144 THE RUSTY SONG SPARROW. 



in mating time: but they like to assure tliemselves, ne\'ei"theless, that a dozen 

 of their fellows are within call against a time of need. 



Silver-tongue is a bird of the ground and contiguous le\-els. When 

 hiding, he does not seek the depths of the foliage in trees, but skulks among 

 the dead leaves on the ground, or even threads his way thru log heaps. If 

 driven from one covert, the bird dashes to another with an odd jerking 

 flight, working its tail like a pump-handle, as tho to assist progress. Ordi- 

 narilv the bird is not fearful, altho retiring i.n disposition. Apart from the 

 haunts of men the Song Sparrow of western Washington is closely attached 

 to the water; and is not to be looked for sa\e in damp woods, in swamps, 

 in the \icinity of open water, whether of lake or ocean, or along the brushy 

 margins of streams. Indeed, its habits are beginning to assume a slightly 

 acjuatic character. Not only does it plash about carelessly in shallow water, 

 but it sometimes seizes and de\'ours small minnows. 



Save in favored localities, such as the margins of a tule swamp, nests 

 of the Rusty Song Sparrow are not obtrusively common. "Back East," 

 in a season of all around nesting, about one-fifth of the nests found would 

 be those of the Song Sparrow. Not so r)n Puget Sound; for, altho the 

 birds are common, heavy cover is ten times nir)re common, and I would 

 sooner undertake to find a dozen Warblers' nests than as many Song- 

 Sparrows'. Nesting begins about A]iril ist, at which time nests are com- 

 monlv built upon the ground or in a tussock of grass or tules. The end 

 of a log, o\ershadowed Iw growing ferns, is a favorite place later in the 

 season ; while brush-heaps, bushes, fir saplings, trees, or clambering \'ines, 

 such as ivy and clematis, are not despised. 



Tlic eggs, Mr. Bowles finds, are almost invariably four in number, as 

 in a \'erv large number of sets examined only one contained five eggs. 

 Thev are of a light greenish blue in ground color, and are spotted and 

 blotched hea\-ilv and irregularly with reddish browns, especially aliout the 

 larsfer end. Several broods are raised each season. 



The Rustv Song Sparrow, because of its alnmdance in winter, affords 

 the impression of being strictly a resident ])ird in western \\^ashington. Such 

 mav be the case with a majority of the individuals, but there is still evidence 

 of a southward movement of the race, the place of local birds being supplied 

 in winter partlv bv British C<ilumbia birds, which show a heavier and more 

 uniformlv blended type of plumage, a]iproaching that of il/. r. nifiiin. 



