Show g I of Doors in the West of Natural History in the Rocky Mountain Plateau Edited by J. H. Professor of Nature Study In the University of Utah j of the Native Sparrows f f W r recent lecture before study classes at the S. H. Goodwin ex-f a series of re- ing that have many U sparrows in the be-jj ever-present house sparrow of the si species are all of the agriculturist in this sparrows any Foup of birds our Like perching the great of the fruit ty wild berries of money tM and of of will be interesting to gho that English only abundant 1 cies we that derived from various will to identify these birds in the field Western Savanna This bird is by r black streaks on the upper J a distinct streak over the eye and a stripe- over the of the head a median crown The sparrow breeds from the plains to the and although one of the is one of the plainest and least conspicuous' of the is found in the Great anywhere in the grass or weed may dart out from over grass- tops for a little and drop j i to the hopelessly lost he is again to take the distance see and hear the giving their plain little the top of a tall weed or but on nearer approach they into the grass and really escape notice till you tramp lots through the Vernon Their consists of weed seeds which in May and June of the rest being mostly the seeds o weedy Western Grasshopper This is another species that lives in the grassy fields and breeds likewise from the plains to the In the fall it migrates to Central It is not so common west of the Rocky mountains as in the Throat and sides buffy the upper parts reddish gray and has a median buffy stripe and two blackish the feathers' of the marked with black eye-spots nicked with reddish brown edges wing tail rounded and white It prefers to run through the grass rather than to when It receives its name from its' pal and favorite food grasshoppers and crickets and is a most efficient destroyer of insect Its' nest on the built deep and often more or less arched the three to five white eggs are spotted with Its song resembles the trill of a or the of the long-horned The Western Lark This a beautiful may be recognized by the white streaks above and the black and I white below the the white or buffy median stripe and the chest- nut patch on the side of the j The rest of the upper parts are j brownish with darker 1 The tail is blackish brown with white ing a conspicuous crescent as the bird The under parts are with a small black central spot on the If is a little larger than the English j This fine bird comes in the From the top of weed or sage brush it often pours forth a varied and brilliant As he he frequently raises his calling attention to his face One that sang early in June while the nature class was in last near the I had a ringing much louder than is reported usual with these Next to the grasshopper sparrow it is the most valuable as a destroyer of and helps to check invasions of Rocky j Mountain Its other food consists mostly of the seeds and various Ridgway observes that the boys in Utah call the lark sparrow the snake from the supposed resemblance of its striped head to that of a He is of the opinion that the delightful song of this bird has no parallel among the North American and superior to that of all other members of this It sings early and late a song of divided almost perfect in compass and of great vigor and It begins with a series of chants each syllable rich and and uttered with a peculiar emotional trill accompanied by a metallic As if the singer and the become scarcely then suddenly as if in great the song is resumed in all its Western White Crowned Somewhat similar to the lark sparrow in but- with three white and two black stripes on the besides a little black below the last white the white stripe not extending forward of the The edge of the wing is under parts plain back with fore parts-gray and rear parts In the spring it arrives in large but goes into the mountains to It has a rather pretty song two long whistled the first sliding up to the second with grace the second following by a lower note repeated three times a peculiar sad cadence and in a soft Unlike the eastern a large proportion of the food of the western white crown consists of Along a high mountain Key-sor describes the actions of the white crowned sparrow in courting his crown feathers and head and tail he would glide to the top of a then down into the grass where his lady love up and up and down he scuttled again and And what did they sometimes in caressing one of the most melodious tributes to the Quaker poet I have ever According to the song of the white crown further throughout the Mackenzie river calls to mind the first notes of the old What Can the Matter He says these birds sang far into the night when all other birds were often awakening him with their rich arid interesting As you travel into the higher Wasatch mountains in these birds will sing or twitter to you from bushes near the and far up on the mountain on grassy areas amid the or poising on the limbs of you will see the white crowned sparrow hopping now in the now on the now leaping upon a large now creeping into an open space under the all the while picking up some kind of seed or nut or They are said to breed abundantly among the mountains at a height of from eight thousand to eleven thousand while the highest nest known to explorers was twelve thousand five hundred feet above the Some observers say that the white crowns change their location between the first and second broods that in a certain park at an elevation of eight thousand feet they will breed abundantly in and then most of them will leave that region and become numerous among the stunted bushes above the timber where they raise a second In these treeless and higher altitudes there are many some bumble beetles and other so even in these arctic searching among the rocks and in the short grass below watered by the melting these birds fare well in places that seem devoid of bird The White Throated The white throated sparrow has its head similarly streaked with black and a line of yellow from eye to and yellow edging on It sings in a ringing It is chiefly in Montana and but straggles west to the Western Chipping This is perhaps the best known of our native being found from Alaska to Mexico and from the Rocky to the It has a black dark reddish blackish forehead cut by a median white white or grayish eyebrow line which is bordered below by a black eye The back is streaked with upper tail feathers and sides of head the under parts white or It is paler than the eastern chippy and distinguished from the tree sparrow by the lack of the blotch on the The in trees or is lined with and contains from three to five greenish speckled with The chippy is a domestic often building or coming near to He apparently hard to believe in the goodness of human though he meets with little One wonders why he has not long ago given up the attempt to make friends with so rarely do we show any appreciation of hi's The house cat is the chippy's chief Crouching and waiting and she misses no opportunity to pounce on an unsuspecting bird It is surprising that any Chippy's song scarcely deserves the name of it is high somewhere in the octave just beyond highest C-always at the same one little following Yet he is so proud of that little song M built in your dooryard hear him give it middle of the the chipping Sparrow insects per and ble seeds per ly of insect the 2 food of weed and a little The chippy is a any The Sagebrush Chippy This is a little bird that fc to the and is t there throughout the It is grayish i streaked with black above at soiled gray It is ab smaller and lighter in color t the chipping similar nest with four blue The Desert This is a summer bird of drier portions of the Great ft the desert form of the m black throated throat and lores are t of head gray with two v. upper parts lower parts is' one of variations of the plaintive mournful spring song that 1 monizes with the monotony desert It sounds and is the first two w being uttered in a rich met while the final trill lower key and the most lif and tremulous On all our walks through ii thorn brush and climbs over agave covered we lovely little bird ting on top of the M with head thrown back in 1 of his bright small father trying to tract us when we were taj notes on the first plumage after twittering in flew excitedly toj top and fairly burst 1 while his mate was ground beside with the that the brood grew so out able that they popped could 5 nest faster than we j The Sage Sparrow-Arte This sparrow is the sage brush the Great oft gray tones and faint I ings of this' bird blend per-with the silvery green of He has a long black nd sings sweetly in spring tilts upon a spray of these f i. At closer range a series farrow blackish streaks are le on the sides of the throat chest has a black sides faintly tinged with rest of under upper parts light grayish back narrowly of lateral tail feather Je It is the size of the to and sage song of artemisia is by as unsurpassed for sweetness sadness of its lis very like the song of a low lark singing afar besides its peculiar quite unique in and It is in style somewhat re-ling the spring warbling of They run on with their expanded uttering a chirping and often dodging among the bushes rather than flying onward may we press Through the path of Virtue is true Excellence true Minds are of supernal Let us make a heaven of |