May, 1911 MY AVIAN VISITORS:' NOTES FROM SOUTH DAKOTA 95 Snowbird which remained with them in the vicinity of the dooryard for about two weeks before he disappe. ared. There is something strange and interesting in this fact of the associating in flocks of different species of more or less closely-related birds. What do the two or more kinds think of one another? Ofttimes I watched this particular Snowbird as he hopped about among the sparrows in search of food. To all appearances_he was treated as one that had been "adopted into the tribe." W. estern Lark Sparrows ( Chondestes grammacus slrigalus) in 1904, first made their appearance on April 30, and became common at once. During many hours each day they were much in evidence about the dooryards in goodly flocks, espec- ially where grass or other low vegetation was tq be found, and there, as in other regions of the country, they displayed a partiality for the immediate vicinity of fences, or similar structures. On cool and drizzly days they sometimes collect in considerable assemblages as if to seek good cheer in large numbers. At Grass Creek, on such a day, in June, 1905, I counted forty-six of these sparrows perched on a barbed-wire fence. The Lark Sparrow is imposed upon very frequently by that prince of vaga- bonds, the Cowbird. On June 28, 1905, I found a sparrow's nest on the east slope of a steephill, and near an elm tree at its foot. The nest contained five eggs, three of which belonged to the owner of it, and the other two to Cowbirds! On July 8, I found that the nest had been abandoned, and that there was only one Lark Sparrow egg remaining therein, and none whatever belonging to the Cow- birds. What had removed the eggs that were missing and caused the sparrows to desert the remaining ones, I know not. There are many mysterious disappear- ances continually occurring tO puzzle and sadden the student of nature. The above mentioned nest was a very neat affair made of grass, lined with root-fibers, and placed in a shallow depression in the soil. A tuft of coarse grass bent over it from above; and another was growing on its lower, or downhill, side. The song of the Lark Sparrow, which may be heard throughout the spring and summer, is highly pleasing. The bird usually arrives from the south the first week in May and becomes common immediately. If Harris Sparrows (Zonolrichia querula) ever yisited my place of residence at Medicine Root it was never my good fortune to meet with any of them. But at Lake Creek, in a flat and almost treeless region, three of them, two males and a female, stayed about my stable for two weeks or more in late April and early May, 1908. The ordinary call note of Harris Sparrow brings to mind the melancholy sound made by an unolled hinge that supports a door or gate swinging to and fro in the wind. When these birds were perched on the fence-posts 'or buildings in company with a number of English Sparrows it was difficult to distinguish which birds were which unless one approached very near to them, as the head and throat markings of the two birds are somewhat similar. Very seldom did the Lark Bunting (Calamospz'za melanocorys) visit my door- yard; however, when riding over the prairies one is sure often to meet with these birds. In 1904 I saw two males on May 14, and a large flock, consisting of about equal numbers of the sexes, on May 19; from this latter date they were common. But marshland and meadows are their proper habitat, and to such places we must hie in order to find them in abundance. Along Lake Creek they appear when Maia, the goddess of the plains, first makes her magic influence felt, and they be- come common about May 11; hence their vernal hegira in 1904 was somewhat de- layed. In the hill country where the Bobolink is seldom seen the Buntings are often called "Bobolinks," because of the similarity in the coloration of the breed-
