496 GRANIVOROUS BIRDS. 



At this cool and gloomy season, and down to the close 

 of the first week in November, as they pass from branch 

 to branch, and play capriciously round each other, they 

 keep up almost perpetually a low and pleasant liquid war- 

 ble, not much unlike that of the Yellow Bird {Fringilla 

 tristis), but less varied. Sometimes two or three at the 

 same time will tune up s'weedif s'tveedit weet, and s^wai- 

 dit s'loaidit weet, accompanied by some tremulous trilling 

 and variation, which though rather sad and querulous, 

 is heard at this silent season with peculiar delight. In 

 summer, during the breeding-time, it is likely they ex- 

 press considerable melody. 



According to Mr. Hutchins, they breed around the 

 Hudson's Bay settlements, making a nest in the herbage, 

 formed externally of mud and dry grass, and lined with 

 soft hair or down, probably from vegetables, in the man- 

 ner of the Yellow Bird. The eggs, about 5, are said to 

 be pale brown, marked with darker spots of the same 

 color. About the beginning of April, they leave the 

 Middle States for their summer quarters, and arrive 

 around Severn river in May ; they also probably prop- 

 agate in Newfoundland, where they have been observ- 

 ed. With us, they are still seen in numbers to the 19th 

 of April. 



The Tree Sparrow is about 6 to 6^ inches long, at the most, and 9 

 to 9^ in alar extent. — The whole upper part of the head bright bay 

 without any dividing line ; sometimes this color, however, is slightly 

 skirted with grey ; stripe over the eye white at its commencement 

 near the mandible, backwards fading into pale ash-color ; the centre 

 of the breast marked with an obscure spot of dark drown partly hid- 

 den beneath the other feathers. From the lower angle of the bill, 

 and behind the eye, proceeds a small stripe of chesnut. Sides under 

 the wings and towards the belly pale brown. The back varied with 

 brownish black, bay, and drab ; lower part of the back and rump 

 pale greyish-brown ; lesser wing-coverts deep ash-color ; wings 

 dusky, the primaries edged with dull white as well as the tail, the 



