EASTERN FIELD SPARROW 1227 



Late in the summer some of the young males occasionally sang brief 

 snatches of sweet song, much shorter than the adult version. 



If undisturbed by predators and other mishaps, field sparrows in 

 ^'lichigan probably raise three broods of young each summer. I have 

 known two parrs to accomplish this during my 11-year study. I 

 found the nest of one banded pair May 28, 1939 with four young that 

 left the nest June 4. Their second nest I found June 28, and its four 

 young left July 2 and 3. On July 21 I found their third nest, whose 

 three eggs hatched July 28, and >ill three young left the nest success- 

 fully August 4th. 



The usual field sparrow pair is seldom this fortunate. Too many 

 enemies are searching for food, too many cowbirds are looking for 

 foster parents for their eggs. Consequently the female field sparrow 

 often buUds many extra nests during the summer. The most I 

 recorded for one female was seven in one season. I found her first 

 nest May 24, 1945; its three eggs hatched May 28, and the nestlings 

 were gone May 30. On June 1 she was building a new nest, in which 

 she laid two eggs June 4 and 5; these were gone on June 6. I found 

 her third nest newly completed on June 11 ; she laid one egg in it June 

 13 which was gone June 14, and she deserted. Her next nest I found 

 June 26 with one egg; the next morning, though she had laid her second 

 egg, a cowbird had also laid one and her first egg was gone, and again 

 she deserted. She finished her next nest July 1 and laid three eggs in 

 it July 2, 3, and 4; when two of these disappeared July 5 she left it 

 and started the next day on a new nest, which she finished July 8. 

 In this she laid three eggs July 9, 10, and 11, but the morning of July 

 18 it had been destroyed. She buUt her seventh nest July 20-21 and 

 laid three more eggs in it July 22, 23, and 24, which hatched August 3 

 and 4. On August 9 the nest was torn to pieces and the young gone. 

 Thus from May 14, when I estimate she laid her first egg, through 

 August 9 when her last nest was destroyed, a period of 87 days, she 

 laid a total of 17 eggs in her seven nests; 6 of her eggs hatched, but she 

 fledged no young. I have records of females laying 18 eggs in a single 

 summer. 



My (1945) published totals on 462 nests observed showed 159 or 

 34.41 percent of them successful, and from 1,235 eggs laid, 447 young 

 fledged, or 36.19 percent. In Malcolm P. Crooks' (MS.) Iowa study 

 six nests of 17 fledged young, yielded an almost identical 35 percent 

 nest success. Of the 45 eggs laid in these 17 nests, 27 or 60 percent 

 hatched, but only 12 young, or 26.66 percent survived to migration 

 time. 



Plumages. — Dwight (1900) gives the color of the natal down as 

 "mouse gray." D. K. and N. S. Wetherbee (1961) describe the batch- 

 ling as "light orange with down that varied from light to dark gray. 



