EASTERN SONG SPARROW 1495 



it and picking it up again, singing meanwhile." During building, 

 says Forbush (1929), "the male devotes himself more to song than 

 to labor." 



The duration of building is variously given, with 5 days the lowest 

 figure and 10 days a commonly accepted maximum. Weather is 

 known to influence the speed of building; and it may be supposed 

 that the time-advance of the season, the number of nesting attempts 

 already made, and the presence or absence of an earlier brood might 

 all affect the female's building behavior. As mentioned below, females 

 of the race melodia commonly raise three broods in a season and some- 

 times deposit the eggs for a later brood in a previously successful nest. 

 Andrew J. Berger (1951) found five nests built in one season by the 

 same female of the subspecies euphonia; not all succeeded. 



The heights of nests range from ground level to at least 12 feet 

 high. Most nests are placed on the gound, usually concealed under 

 a tuft of grass, a bush, or a brush pile; and elevated structures are 

 rare or absent early in the season. Eaton (1914) reports that 99 

 percent of the nests in New York are on the ground, but most writers 

 use words suggesting only that something over half are located there. 

 Elevated nests are "at a height of generally not over two or three 

 feet" (Knight, 1908), but numerous references to somewhat higher 

 sites can be found. Locations over water are not uncommon. 



Plants in which nests are placed are grasses, sedges, cattails, a 

 great assortment of bushes and shrubs, and, more rarely, trees of 

 many species. Nests are occasionally built in cavities. Hollows in 

 old apple trees are apparently the commonest such locations (Knight, 

 1908; Todd, 1940; Eaton, 1914) ; but hollow logs and rails, unoccupied 

 buildings such as woodsheds, and even nest boxes (Palmer, 1949) 

 have been resorted to. 



The materials used for the outer, bulky part of the nest, as opposed 

 to the lining, are most commonly leaves, strips of plant bark, and weed 

 and grass stems. The lining is of fine grasses, rootlets, and horse 

 or other animal hair. W. E. C. Todd (1940) states that nests "when 

 above the ground * * * are often quite bulky." Knight reports 

 the dimensions of one nest placed on the ground: the diameter of the 

 cavity was 2% inches, while the overall diameter varied between 5 

 and 9 inches; the cavity depth was 1% inches, the overall depth 4% 

 inches. 



Eggs. — The statements in this paragraph are applicable to the song 

 sparrow without regard to race. The female lays from 3 to 6 eggs. 

 They are slightly glossy and range from ovate to short ovate. The 

 ground color of freshly laid eggs is "pale Niagara green" but this 

 fades upon exposure to a greenish-white. Most eggs are very heavily 

 speckled, spotted, or blotched with reddish browns such as "Verona 



