PERCHING BIRDS 



540. Vesper Spauuow. Powcetes 

 gramineus groviineus. 



Range. — ^Eastern United States, breeding from 

 Virginia and Missouri north to Manitoba and 

 New Brunswiclv; winters in the southern half 

 of tlie United States. 



A streaked grayish, buft'y 



and white bird distinguished 

 by its chestnut shoulders and 

 white outer tail feathers. 

 They are abundant birds in 

 eastern fields where their 

 loud piping whistle is known 

 to many frequenters of weed> 

 pastures. They build on the ground, either 

 in grassy or cultivated fields, lining the hollow 

 scantily with grasses. Their four or five eggs 

 are usually laid in May or June; they are dull 

 wliitish, blotched and splashed with light 

 brown and lavender tints; size .80 x .60. 



Whitish 



McCown's Liong-si)!!!- 



oWa. Western Vesper Sparrow. Poacetes gramineus confinis. 



Range. — This paler variety is found in North America west of the Plains and 

 south of Saskatchewan. 



Its nesting habits are like those of tlie preceding and the eggs are indistin- 

 guishable. 



fj K)b. ()RE(i()N Vesper Sparrow. Poa^cetes gramiuciis affinis. 



A browner variety found on the coast of Oregon and northern California. 



Its nesting habits are like those of the eastern bird and tlie eggs similar but 



averaging a trifle smaller. .. ^ ^ t. ,. i, 



■ * * English Sparroav. ranser 



domesticus. 

 These birds, which were imported from 

 Europe, have increased so rapidly that they 

 have overrun the cities and villages of the coun- 

 try and are doing inestimable damage both by 

 driving out native insect ^.-sc =~ 



eating birds and by their J^^"^^^^^-^ 



own destructiveness. They /SL^-*»* '^ 

 nest in all sorts of places 

 but preferably behind 

 blinds, where their un- 

 sightly masses of straw 

 protrude from between the 



slats, and their droppings besmirch the build- 

 ings below; they breed at all seasons of the 

 year, eggs having often been found in January, 

 with several feet of snow on the ground and 

 the mercury below zero. The eggs number from 

 four to eight in a set and from four to eight 

 sets a season; the eggs are whitish, spotted 

 and blotched with shades of gray and black. 

 Size .88 X .60. 



White 



iper sparrow 



H^ 



.^\ 



335 



