190 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



americ.) in oak and pine woods from which the pine had very 

 recently been cut. It contained two eggs of Bachman's Sparrow 

 and three of Cowbird — incubation far advanced. The nest was 

 near (10 feet) the top of a recentlj'^ cut pine. I mention this, for 

 I invariably find Bachman's Sparrows about the dead tops of 

 fallen trees." 



*581. Melospiza cinerea melodia (Wilson). Song Sparrow. 



FringiUa fasciata. Melospiza fasciata. Melospiza melodia. Fringilla 

 melodia. Emberiza melodia. Melospiza meloda. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern United States to the Plains; north to 

 the Maritime Provinces, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatche- 

 wan and Alberta. Breeds from Virginia, southern Indiana, 

 northern Kentucky, central Mississippi, southern Missouri and 

 Kansas northward, and winters from Nova Scotia, the Great 

 Lakes, and Nebraska southward, but chiefly south of the Ohio 

 River. 



In Missouri a common and generally distributed transient 

 visitant ; a fairly common winter resident and a rather rare, only 

 locally commion, summer resident in the alluvial bottoms and 

 prairie region from Ste. Genevieve and Jasper Co. northward, 

 increasing in numbers and spreading to new territory. The 

 Song Sparrow is one of the very first to stir from its winter quar- 

 ters as soon as the backbone of our Missouri winter is broken, 

 commonly near the end of February. It is then seen at places 

 not frequented before, but these movements are only preliminary 

 to the great general advance which begins about March 10 and 

 gathers full strength at the middle of the month, when the great 

 mass occupies the state from one end to the other and holds pos- 

 session of it for three weeks, until the second week in April, 

 being more numerous southward in March and northward in 

 April. The last transients leave southern Missouri about the 

 middle, northern toward the end of April ; and birds heard singing 

 in May should be marked probable summer residents. Fall 

 migrants begin to arrive the middle of September, but do not 

 become numerous before October, sometimes early in the month, 

 sometimes not before the latter part, remaining common into 

 November, but seldom into the second week, after which winter 

 numbers only are left. 



