44 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Usually placed in low thick 

 bushes, or in tufts of grass on the ground, in clearings, 

 or bushy fields, near woodland ; constructed of coarse 

 grass, weed strips, and rootlets, lined with finer grasses 

 and hair. Eggs : 3 to 5, grayish or bluish white 

 spotted with various shades of brown, more heavily 

 around large end. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America, west to the 

 edge 01 tlic Great Plains; breeding from upper 

 Georgia and South Carolina, northwestern Florida, 

 central .-Mabama, and Mississippi, and central Te.xas. 

 northward to Maine. Ontario, Manitoba ; wintering in 

 more southern United States, from Florida to Texas, 

 northward to about 39°, occasionally farther. 



The Field Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, and 

 Tree Sparrow resemble one another nearly 

 enough to perple.x the ine.xperienced or hasty 

 observer. Sharp eyes, intelligently used, how- 

 ever, will reveal certain characteristic marks. 

 Look for the reddish bill and the plain breast of 

 the Field Sparrow ; the -a'liitc stripe over each 

 eye, the almost pure ichite breast and the (/ray 

 rump of the Chippy, and the dark spot in the 

 middle of the breast of the Tree Sparrow. 



The popular specific term " field," is a little 

 misleading as applied to this bird, for its favorite 

 habitat is an old pasture-lot overgrown with 

 weeds and high bushes, or undergrowth along 



Photo by S. .-v. Lottndge 



NEST AND EGGS OF FIELD SPARROW 



the edges of woodland, rather than cultivated 

 fields, in which it is rarely seen. Nor does it 

 ajipear, except by accident, in dooryards of 

 human habitations. 



This Sparrow's habits of running along the 

 ground and skulking through the brush are 

 characteristics which aid in its indentification, 

 and which at the same time reveal its retiring 

 and timid disposition. Its song is a simple but 

 musical little ditty of which Thoreau says : " The 

 Rush Sparrow [a local name for the bird in his 

 time, and one still sometimes used] jingles her 

 small change, pure silver, on the counter of 

 the pastures," a fetching description, though 

 it implies a cttrious ignorance of the fact that it 

 is the male bird that does the singing. The 



song is not unlike that of the Chipping Sparrow, 

 in that its notes are all of the same pitch, but it 

 is distinctive in that their delivery is at an ac- 

 celerated rate which efifectually relieves the eflfect 

 of monotony. The tone is pure and sweet, 

 rather more so than that of the " Chippy." Brad- 

 ford Torrey recorded that he once heard the 

 song rendered " in reverse order," with an effect 

 which jnizzled him ttntil he had identified the 

 singer. This observation conveys a valuable 

 hint as to the variability in the songs of birds. 

 It should always be borne in mind that this varia- 

 bility may be marked even in birds of the same 

 species and the same locality : indeed it is likely 

 that two birds from the same brood may render 

 Iierce]5tibly different versions of the same song. 

 The laboratory investigation of 175 specimens 

 of the Field Sparrow collected during all the 

 months of the year from fifteen States and the 

 District of Columbia showed 41 per cent, animal 

 material and 59 per cent, vegetable. The animal 

 matter consisted of weevils, leaf beetles, ground 

 beetles, tiger beetles, click beetles. May beetles, 

 caterpillars, grasshoppers, leaf-hoppers, true bugs, 

 saw flies, ants, flies, spiders, and parasitic wasps. 

 The last item is the principal point wherein the 

 Field Sparrow differs in its food habits from the 

 Chipping Sparrow — a dift'erence that is not to 

 the credit of this species from the standpoint of 

 usefulness, since these wasps have been proved 

 to be dangerous parasites of many caterpillars. 

 Of the vegetable food 51 per cent, was seeds of 

 grasses of such species as crab-grass, pigeon- 

 grass, broom-sedge, poverty-grass, and sheathed 

 rush-grass ; 4 per cent, was seeds of such weeds 

 as chickweed, lamb's-quarters. gromwell, spurge, 

 wood sorrel, and knot-weed ; and 4 per cent, was 

 oats. Dr. Judd tells in his Birds of a Maryland 

 farm of watching a flock of Field Sparrows in 

 the middle of November. They spent most of 

 their time swaying on broom-sedge stalks, from 

 which they were busily extracting seeds. Some- 

 times a bird alighting on a plant would bend it 

 to the ground and hold it down with its feet 

 while picking out the seeds : seldom would one 

 feed from the ground in any other way. 



The Western Field Sparrow (Spicella piisilla 



