EUROPEAN TREE SPARROW 27 



Voice. — The same observer says that "though they have no real 

 song, a medley of their various tinkling notes answers well the same 

 purpose. There is a slight resemblance between the twittering of a 

 flock of this species and that of Spizella monticola, and this has prob- 

 ably led the first European settlers to give the name of tree sparrow 

 to the latter species, an appellation which would otherwise be difficult 

 to account for." 



Yarrell (1876-82) writes: "The common call-note of the Tree- 

 Sparrow is a chirp, not unlike though shriller than that of the House- 

 Sparrow, but, as Blyth remarks (Mag. Nat. Hist, vii, p. 488), it has 

 others in great variety. The cock has also a proper song, which the 

 same observant naturalist describes as "consisting of a number of 

 these chirps, intermixed with some pleasing notes, delivered in a 

 continuous unbroken strain, sometimes for many minutes together; 

 very loudly, and having a characteristic sparrow tone throughout." 



Field marks. — The European tree sparrow bears a remote, super- 

 ficial resemblance to our well-known English sparrow, but Witherby 

 (1919) gives the following field characters: "Both sexes are alike and 

 differ from male House-Sparrow in smaller size, trimmer build, black 

 patch on ear-coverts, and chocolate-coloured, not grey, crown. 

 Double white wing-bar is another, though less obvious, distinction. 

 Notes bear general resemblance to House-Sparrow's, but are perhaps 

 shriller, and chee-ip, chup is distinctive. Birds flying across open 

 fields — often singly — may be detected by their sharp teck, teck." 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Introduced and now resident in central-eastern Missouri 

 (Creve Coeur Lake, St. Charles, St. Louis), southwestern Illinois 

 (Alton, Grafton, Belleville), and Bermuda (no recent records). 



