TREE SPARROW. 495 



hind-head and neck with touches of dusky-brown and white } cheeks 

 brownish-white } back varied with blackish, brown, and pale ash ; 

 shoulders of the wings above and below, and lesser coverts of the 

 same, olive-yellow; primaries and tail, drab, the feathers of the lat- 

 ter rather pointed ; breast without spots, yellowish-white with a 

 tinge of brown. Belly and vent white. Legs flesh-color. Bill dus- 

 ky, pale bluish- white below. — The two sexes are nearly alike. 



TREE SPARROW. 



{Fringilla canadensis, L. at h. F. arhorea, Wilson, ii. p. 123. pi. 16. 

 fig. 3. Phil. Museum, No. 6575.) 



Sp. Charact. — Crown bright bay ; stripe over the eye, sides of the 

 neck, chin, and breast, pale ash ; wings with two white bars ; bill 

 black, the lower mandible yellow ; legs and feet dusky ; 1st pri- 

 mary shorter than the 5th and 2d. 



This handsome winter Sparrow arrives from the 

 northern reo-ions in New England about the close of Oc- 

 tober, withdrawing from Hudson's Bay and the neigh- 

 bouring countries some time in the month of September. 

 The species, consequently, like many more of our Fringil- 

 las, only measures his speed by the resources of subsist- 

 ence he is able to obtain, and thus strao-alinff southward, 

 as the winter advances, he enters Pennsylvania only 

 about the beginning of November ; there, as well as in 

 the maritime parts of Massachusetts, and perhaps as far 

 south as Virginia, the Tree Sparrow is often seen as- 

 sociated with the hardy Snow-Birds, gleaning a similar 

 kind of subsistence : and when the severity of winter com- 

 mences, leaving the woods, gardens, and uplands in 

 which he is an occasional visitor, he seeks in company 

 the shelter of some bushy swamp, thickly shaded brook, 

 or spring. Near Fresh Pond, in this vicinity, they are 

 at that season numerous, and roost together near the 

 margin of the reeds, almost in the society of the Black- 

 birds, who seek out a similar place of warmth and shelter 

 as the chilling frosts begin to prevail. 



