320 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



brown more or less streaked with blackish. Young birds and fall specimens: 

 More tinged with brown and stained with yellowish. Young streaked 

 on the breast and sides with dusky. 



Length 5.3-6 inches; wing 2.3-2.5; tail 2.4-2.7; bill .46; tarsus .86. 



Distribution. This sparrow breeds from Newfoundland, Labrador 

 and Fort Simpson southward to the northern United States. In New York 



it is a summer resident of all portions 

 of the State, arriving from March 25 

 to April 12, a few days later in the 

 northern counties; and the fall 

 migration usually takes place from 

 October 20 to November 15, but in 

 all the southern counties a few 

 individuals remain throughout the 

 winter. I have noticed that it is a 

 winter resident in Monroe county, 

 Ontario county and in all the 

 marshes of the lower Hudson val- 

 ley and Long Island. 



Haunts and habits. The chosen 

 haunts of the Swamp sparrow are 

 the grass, sedge and flag-covered 

 marshes of riversides and the 

 flooded shores of ponds and lakes. 

 It is common in the Montezuma 

 marshes, about equaling the Song 

 sparrow in abundance, also about 

 Lakes Erie and Ontario it is a fairly 

 abundant species in the flooded portions of the swamps which are covered 

 with a dense growth of sedges, rushes, flags and grasses. Even in the 

 migration season the Swamp sparrow is rarely seen far from the edge of the 

 marsh. As the draining of our swamps and marshes progresses, it is evident 

 that the habitat of this species becomes more and more restricted and the 



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Photo by L. S. Horton 

 Swamp sparrow's nest and eggs 



