1522 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 3 



1945 it had penetrated southward beyond the mountain valleys to 

 the northern edge of the Piedmont." 



Milton B. Trautman (1940) has given a most comprehensive de- 

 scription of the habitat preferences of this race in a large and varied 

 area around Buckeye Lake in central Ohio: 



In winter the bird was abundant in brushy thickets, fallow fields of rank weed 

 growth, weedy fields of uncut corn, brushy edges and openings of woodlands, 

 brushy fence rows, brushy and weedy swamps, weedy edges of the canal, and 

 cattail marshes. It was less numerous or entirely absent from the bleak snow- 

 swept fields and pastures, from the vicinity of farmhouses containing little shrub- 

 bery, and from orchards and woodlots which had no ground cover. During 

 spring and fall it was also noted in small numbers in more barren localities, such 

 as pastures, meadows and last year's forage and grain fields. 



In the nesting season, from late March to early August, the species was found 

 in the greatest concentrations in lowland weedy situations. Many pairs nested 

 on the islands and lowland shores of the lake where herbaceous plants and brush 

 were present, about weedy and brushy borders and isolated brushy areas of cattail 

 swamps, in weedy and brushy inland swamps, in brushy edges and openings of 

 woodlands, along brushy fence rows, in fallow and weedy fields, and in the openings 

 and borders of brushy thickets. A few also nested along weedy or brushy fence 

 rows, in fields of smaller grains and forage crops, and in woodlots containing little 

 ground cover. It was only in the barren upland fields and on the crests of wooded 

 hills that nesting birds were absent. 



Distribution 



Range. — Northern Wisconsin, northeastern Michigan, southern 

 Ontario, and western New York south to south-central Texas, the 

 Gulf coast, and southern Georgia. 



Breeding range. — The Mississippi song sparrow breeds from north- 

 ern Wisconsin, northeastern Michigan (Marquette, Whitefish Point), 

 central southern Ontario (Bruce County, Hamilton), and western 

 New York (east to Keuka Lake) south through southeastern Minne- 

 sota and Iowa to northeastern Kansas (Bendena), southwestern 

 Missouri (Jasper County), and northwestern and north-central 

 Arkansas (Winslow, Newport) ; through western Pennsylvania, 

 western Maryland (Accident), West Virginia (except extreme north- 

 east), southwestern Kentucky (Paducah, Glasgow), southwestern 

 Virginia (Pulaski, Marion), southeastern Tennessee (Chattanooga, 

 Crab Orchard), northeastern Alabama (Valley Head), and western 

 North Carolina to northern Georgia (Milledgeville) and northwestern 

 South Carolina (Clemson) ; casual in summer in south-central Kansas 

 (Harper) and northern Louisiana (Tallulah). 



Winter range. — Winters from southern Wisconsin (Viroqua, Green 

 Bay), southern Michigan (Alicia), southern Ontario, and western 

 New York southwest and south through southeastern Nebraska, 

 eastern Kansas (Douglas County), and central Oklahoma (Norman) 



