FAM. XIII. FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 



133 



belly; the bend of the wing is yellow and the tail ninch 

 rounded; the under feathers are a half inch shorter than 

 the upper ones, and all the tail feathers are very narrow 

 though not acute-pointed. The bright rusty back is usually 

 without black streaks. This is a won- 

 derfully sweet and somewhat loud 

 singer ; found in its northern range in 

 the open woods. 



Length, 6 ; wing, 2\ (2|-2|) ; tail, 2f ; 

 tarsus, \ ; culmen, \ or more. The Carolinas 

 west to Texas, north to southern Illinois, 

 wintering in Florida. The Pine-woods Spar- 

 row (575. Pcxiccka ceslivalis) differs in havini? 

 the back a light chestnut, streaked with black 

 and margined with gray, and tlie breast some- 

 times spotted with black. It is an inhabitant 

 of pine woods with an undergrowth of scrub 

 palmetto. According to Frank M. Chapman 

 it is the best singer among all our sparrows, 

 and compares well in the exqnisite tender- 

 ness and pathos of its melody with the hermit 

 thrush. Florida and southern Georgia. 



37. Cassin's Sparrow (578. Peiiccea 

 cdssini). — This Avestern species is 

 similar to Bachman's sparrow, but differs in having the upper 

 tail feathers decidedly barred with somewhat crescent-shaped 

 dusky spots and the flanks broadly streaked with brownish. 



Length, 6\ ; wing, 2| ; tail, 2j ; tarsus, | ; culmen, h Central and 

 western Kansas, south and west to Texas and Nevada. 



Bachman's Sparrow 



38. Song Sparrow (581. Melosp'iza fascu\ta). — A very com- 

 mon, streaky, grayish-brown sparrow, with the sides of the 

 breast especially marked with a cluster of stripes forming 

 a blotch of brownish. It is abundant among shrubbery near 

 water, and throughout the year of four seasons, and even 

 throughout the day of twenty-four hours, it show^s its w^onder- 

 ful powers of song. Of course the morning and evening of 

 spring days are its especial times for singing. Though it 



