FRIXGILLID.E — THE FIXCHES. 5 



and graceful, and in waving undulations. On opening the stomachs of 

 those he shot at the Magdeleine Islands, iMr. Audubon found them contain- 

 ing minute shell-fish, coleopterous insects, hard seeds, berries, and grains of 

 sand. 



Nests obtained near Fort Anderson confirm tlie descriptions given by Mr. 

 Hutchins, as observed in tlie settlement at Hudson's Bay. The eggs, which 

 are much larger than those of the other species of Sjnzella, measure .85 by 

 .65 of an inch. Their ground-color is a light green, over which the eggs are 

 very generally freckled witli minute markings of a foxy brown. These 

 markings are distributed with great regularity, but so sparsely as to leave 

 the ground distinctly visible. 



Spizella pusilla, I'-oxap, 



FIELD SPARROW. 



FringiUa pusilla, Wilson, Am. Oni. II, 1810, 121, pi. xvi, f. 2. — Licht. Verzeich. 

 Doubl. 1823, No. 252. —AuD. Orn. Biog. 11, 1834, 299, pi. cxxxLx. Spixella pusilla, 

 BOXAP. List, 1838. — Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 480. — Baied, Birds N. Am. 1858, 473. 

 — Samuels, 319. Emberiza pusilla, Ai-D. Syn. 1839, 104. — Ib. Birds Am. Ill, 1841, 

 77, pi. clxir. Spinites pusillus, C.\B. Mus. Hein. 1851, 133. Fringilla junconmn, 

 NuTT. Man. 1, 1832, 499 (2d ed.,) 1840, 577 (supposed by him to be Molacilla jurvco- 

 rum, Gmelin, I, 952; Sylvia juncorum, LATHA.\r, Ind. II, 511 ; Little Brovm Sparrow, 

 Catesby, Car. I, 35). 



Sp. Char. Bill red. Crown continuous rufous-red, with a faint indication of an ashy 

 central stripe, and ashy nuchal collar. Back somewhat similar, with shaft-streaks of 

 blackish. Sides of head and neck (including a superciliary stripe) ashy. Ear-coverts 

 rufous. Beneath white, tinged with yellowish anteriorly. Tail-feathers and quills faintly 

 edged with white. Two whitish bands across the wing-coverts. Aatunmal specimens 

 more rufous. Length about 5.75 ; wing, 2.34. 



Hab. Eastern North America to the Missouri River; San Antonio, Texas in winter 

 (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 489). 



This species is about the size of S. socialis, but is more rufous above; 

 lacks the black forehead and eye stripe ; has chestnut ears, instead of ash ; 

 has the bill red, instead of black ; lacks the clear ash of the rump ; has a 

 longer tail, etc. It is more like monticola, but is much smaller ; lacks the 

 spot on the breast, and the predominance of Avhite on the wings, etc. The 

 young have the breast and sides streaked, and the cro^^■n slightly so. 



Habits. Tlie common Field Sparrow occupies a weU-defined and some- 

 what compact area, being resident within the United States, and in its mi- 

 srations not removing far from its summer abode. In the summer it breeds 

 from Virginia to Maine, as far as the central and western portions. It is 

 not found near Calais, but occurs and breeds near Xorway, Oxfcnxl County. 

 In the interior it is found still farther north, in Canada, Iowa, and Wiscon- 

 sin, to the Bed Eiver settlements, where it was found breeding by Donald 

 Gunn. At Hanulton, Ontario, Mr. Mclhvraith states it to !>e a ratlier rare 



