THE WHITE-THROATED SPARROW 



Finch Family — Fringillidce 



Length: About 6% inches. 



General Appearance: One of the larger sparrows, with a 

 black and white striped crown, a white throat, and 

 a yellow spot before the eye. 



Male and Female: Striped crown, with a narrow white line 

 in the center, a broad black stripe on each side of 

 the white; a broad white stripe over the eye edged 

 with a narrow black line; a yellow spot in front of 

 the eye, and at the outer curve of the wing. Back 

 brown, streaked with black; rump and tail grayish- 

 brown; wings with two white bars; breast gray, be- 

 coming whitish on the belly; sides brownish. 



Notes: A sharp chip for the alarm-note; low, pleasant twitter- 

 ings. 



Song: A sweet whistle, usually pitched high. It consists of 

 two or three notes that vary considerably. Some- 

 times the first note is an octave below the second; 

 at other times it is a few tones higher than the sec- 

 ond. I heard one recently that sang a perfect mono- 

 tone as follows: Dee, dee, de'-de-de, de'-de-de, de'- 

 de-de. The song has been interpreted in Massachu- 

 setts as 



Sam, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody 



and the bird is known as the "Peabody Bird." 

 Habitat: Hedgerows and thickets along roadsides, in parks, 



on estates, and in woods. 

 Bange: Eastern and central North America. Breeds from 



north-central Canada to southern Montana, central 



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