6 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



summer resilient. Tt breeds in Southern Wisconsin and in Iowa, but is not 

 abundant. It does not appear to iiave been found west ol' the .Mi.ssoui-i 

 \'alley. 



This Sparrow arrives in JMassauhusetts early in April, ami is found almost 

 exclusively in open pastures, old fields, and in clearings remote from villages. 

 It is a shy, retiring bird, and seems to avoid the near presence of man. Wil- 

 son states that it has no song, nothing but a kind of chirruping, not much 

 superior to the chirping of a cricket. But this is quite a mistake, as it is 

 in reality a very varied and fine singer. Its notes are not very powerful, 

 and cannot be heard any distance, but they are very pleasing, although 

 little known or appreciated. It continues in full song until into July, when 

 the second brood is about hatcliing, when its notes rela.x, but do not cease 

 until just before its departure in September or early October. 



Mr. D. I). Hughes, of Grand liapids, Mich., in an interesting paper on the 

 haljits of tliis species, speaks of its beautiful tinkling song as one of its most 

 marked features. To his ear it resembles the ringing of a tiny bell more 

 nearly than anything else. In the early morning and at evening tlie fields 

 ring with their plaintive and tender peals. It sings at all hours of the day, 

 during the nesting-season, even in the noonday heat of summer, when most 

 other birds are silent. 



In Virginia these birds may be found throughout the year, though probably 

 not the same birds in the same localities, some retiring farther south and 

 others coming to take their places from the north. In winter they are found 

 in the greatest abundance in South Carolina and Georgia, occurring in large 

 loose flocks, found chiefly along the roadsides and in old fields and pastures 

 in the rural districts. 



The Field Sparrow nests both on the ground and in low liushes, or among 

 tangled clusters of vines. I have found their nests in all these situations, 

 and have no doubt tlie nature of the surface may have something to do with 

 the position. In high dr}' pastures, in sheltered situations, I have always 

 found their nests on the ground. In the wet meadows and fields subject to 

 a rise of water, as about the Potomac, near Washington, where these birds 

 are \ery abundant, they almost invariably nest in bushes at a height of two 

 or three feet. 



Mr. Audubon says that during the winter these birds are quite common 

 throughout Louisiana, and the country about the Mississippi, as far as Ken- 

 tucky. They begin to depart from the South early in jNIarch, and move slowly 

 northward as the season advances. He states that they begin to nest in 

 May, and raise three broods in a season. This is not the case in New Eng- 

 land, where tliey do not often have more than a single brood. 



Their nests are constructed in a manner very similar to those of the Chip- 

 ping Sparrow, loosely made of a few stems of vegetables, grasses, and sedges, 

 and lined N\'ith hair or fine rootlets. Those placed on the ground are larger 

 and more bulky, and those wrought into the twigs of a bush are made with 



