220 LAND-BIRDS. 



parts, brown-washed or buffy. Two conspicuous wing-bars, 

 white ; part of the wing, black. Wings otherwise as in socia- 

 lise " in keeping with " the back. 



h. The Tree Sj^arrows breed in arctic countries only. 

 Their eggs are strikingly like those of the Swamp Sparrow 

 and allied species (XIII, C), exhibiting some variation. A 

 specimen before me measures about .77 X -55 of an inch, and 

 is of a faint and vague blue or green, finely marked with 

 brown all over, clouded with umber brown about the crown, 

 and splashed in one or two places with a pale and peculiar 

 tint of the same color. Dr. Brewer says that the eggs " meas- 

 ure .85 X -65 of an inch." " Their ground-color is a light 

 green," " freckled with minute markings of a foxy brown." 



c. With the exception of the Snow-birds, the Tree Sparrows 

 are the most regular in appearance of all the Finches who visit 

 us in winter, but who pass the summer in a colder climate. 

 They are, moreover, more or less common during their s]3ring 

 (and fall) migrations. They fi.rst make their appearance in 

 eastern Massachusetts in the last week of October, or the 

 first of November ; but many are then on their way to the 

 South. In the last part of the latter month they become com- 

 mon, and continue to reside here throughout the winter. They 

 usually go about in small flocks, sometimes, however, in pairs 

 or singly ; but, when such is the case, several may usually 

 be found in the same immediate neighborhood. They feed 

 exclusively (?) upon various seeds, and consequently spend 

 their time mostly in fields where the weeds are not entirely 

 covered by the snow, — in vegetable-gardens where the stubble 

 of the summer's crop, or the withered asparagus stalks, furnish 

 them with food, — or in the roads and on the roadsides. 

 When on the ground, the Tree Sparrows are quite nimble, 

 as is highly consistent with their mode of life, since they gen- 

 erally feed when on the ground itself, though they some- 

 times perch upon the tops of weeds, and still more often may 

 be seen in trees, frequently collecting in apple trees. They 

 prefer open grounds, and rather avoid the neighborhood of 

 houses, though I have known one to join Snow-birds who were 

 feeding on a piazza. They are not usually shy ; and, indeed. 



