336 SINGING BIRDS. 



FIELD SPARROW. 



Spizella pusilla. 



Char. Above, streaked rufous, black, and buff; crown chestnut, with 

 obscure median line of ash ; hind neck, sides of head and neck ash ; cheek 

 shaded with brown ; wings with two white bars ; below, white; breast and 

 throat tinged with yellow ; bill reddish brown. Length 534^ inches. 



Nest. In a field, pasture, or open woodland, amid a tuft of grass or in 

 a tangled thicket, sometimes placed on a low bush or vine ; composed of 

 grass, twigs, and straw, lined with hair, fine roots, or fur. 



Eggs. 3-5 ; dull white or with buff or green tint, usually thickly spotted 

 with reddish brown ; 0.70 X 0.55. 



The Small Brown Sparrow arrives in Pennsylvania and New 

 England from the Southern States, where it passes the winter, 

 in the beginning of April. It is with us a shy, wild, and retir- 

 ing species, partial to dry hills and pastures, and open, bushy, 

 secluded woods, living much in trees. In autumn, indeed, the 

 pair, accompanied by their brood, in small flitting flocks leave 

 their native wilds, and glean at times in the garden or orchard ; 

 yet but little is now seen of them, as they only approach culti- 

 vated grounds a few weeks before their departure. These 

 Sparrows, if indeed they are the same as those described by 

 Wilson, in winter flock together in great numbers in the 

 Southern States, and mingling with the Chipping Birds and 

 other species, they now line the roads, fences, and straggling 

 bushes near the plantations in such numbers as, with their 

 sober and brown livery, to resemble almost a shower of rust- 

 ling and falling leaves, continually haunting the advancing 

 steps of the traveller in hungry, active flocks, driven by the 

 storms of winter into this temporary and irksome exile. But 

 no sooner does the return of early spring arrive than they flit 

 entirely from the Southern wilds to disperse in pairs and seek 

 out again their favorite natal regions of the North. 



Our little bird has a pretty loud and shrill note, which may 

 be heard at a considerable distance, and possesses some variety 

 of tone and expression. Sometimes it is something like tw'e 

 twee twdi, tw ^tw ^tw 'tw 'tw 'tw 'tw, beginning loud and 



