little bird has a beautiful
voice, and sings in the morning chorus with his brothers; but he is fond
of continuing his song late into the twilight, after most others have
gone to bed. Then in the stillness his voice sounds sweet and clear, and
the words of the song are: 'Chewee, chewee, chewee lira, lira, lira
lee.' That is the way he says his evening prayers: you know that in some
of the churches there is a beautiful service called Vespers. Ah, if we
only knew bird language!"

"Do you remember," said Olive, "last night when you were going to bed
you asked me if it wasn't a very rare bird that was singing so late down
in the garden, and I told you that it was a Sparrow? It was the Vesper
Bird, perhaps the very one who is over there in the bushes, wondering if
the giant House People will find his nest. You can easily tell him when
he flits in front of you by the roadside, because he always shows two
white feathers, one on each side of his tail."

The Vesper Sparrow

Length six inches.

Upper parts brown, streaked with dusty; some bright bay on the wings,
but no yellow anywhere, and two white tail-feathers.

Under parts dull-white, striped on breast and sides with brown.

A Citizen of North America from Canada southward, nesting north of the
Middle States.

A regular member of the guild of Weed Warriors, and in summer belonging
also to the Seed Sowers and Ground Gleaners.

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW.

(THE PEABODY BIRD)

"The White-throat is another bird that you will not see in his summer
home, unless you look for him in the Northern States. You may find him
nesting about the White Mountains, on or near the ground, with the
Olive-backed Thrush and Winter Wren. In other places he may be seen as a
visitor any time in spring and autumn, or may even linger about the
whole winter. You remember the dead one Nat found, that we used when I
was teaching you something about birds in general that rainy day, before
I began to tell you the particular bird stories.

"If you think of Sparrows only as a sober, dusty-colored family, you may
be surprised to learn that this large, handsome bird, with the white
throat, the head striped with black and white, a yellow spot over the
eye, and richly variegated brown feathers, is a member of that group."

"It bothered me dreadfully at first," said Rap, "until one fall some
sportsmen, who came through the upper fields looking for Quail, whistled
his song and told me about him. Ther