Rev. W. F. Henninger informs nie that a German farmer of his acquaint- 

 ance kept a cardinal in captivity for ahnost exactly thirty years. The bird was 

 not taken from the nest by its long-time owner and its age at the time it came into 

 possession was not known. The captive songster became a great favorite and 

 was for years regarded almost as a member of the family. 



The Song Sparrow {Melosplza melodia) 

 By Henry W. Henshaw 



Length : About 6yi inches. The heavily spotted breast with heavy central 

 blotch is characteristic. 



Range: Breeds in the United States (except the South .Atlantic and Gulf 

 States), southern Canada, southern Alaska, and Mexico: winters in Alaska and 

 most of the United States southward 



Habits and economic status: Like the familiar little ''chippy," the song 

 sparrow is one of our most domestic species, and builds its nest in hedges or in 

 garden shrubbery close to houses, whenever it is reasonably safe from the house 

 cat, which, however, takes heavy toll of the nestlings. It is a true harbinger of 

 spring, and its delightful little song is trilled forth from the top of some green 

 shrub in early March and April, before most of our other songsters have thought 

 of leaving the sunny south. Song sparrows vary much in habits, as well as in size 

 and coloration. Some forms live along streams bordered by deserts, others in 

 swamps among bulrushes and tules, others in timbered regions, others on rocky 

 barren hillsides, and still others in rich, fertile valleys. With such a variety of 

 habitat, the food of the species naturally varies considerably. About three-fourths 

 of its diet consists of the seeds of noxious weeds and one-fourth of insects. Of 

 these, beetles, especially weevils, constitute the major portion. Ants, wasps, bugs 

 (including the black olive scale) and caterpillars are also eaten. Grasshoppers 

 are taken by the eastern birds, but not by the western ones. 



Sexes alike ; nest usually on the ground, of coarse grasses, rootlets, leaves, 

 lined with similar but finer material : eggs four or fi\e ; song a short, sweet mel- 

 ody : call note a loud, sharp chip. 



Although this hardy little songster is by no means confined in his selection 

 of a domicile to the vicinity of water, if you wouUl find him with the least diffi- 

 culty or in the greatest numbers, you will do well to seek him in the neighbor- 

 hood of pond or stream or of marsh land with its encircling clumps of convenient 

 willows and its straggling rim of fencing. Here, ere half the blustering days of 

 March have blown by and before the ice has cleared from the ditches, you may 

 hear again the cheery song of some of his tribe who have arrived a few days in 

 advance of the main body to spy out the land, perhaps, or to take possession of 

 the old familiar places. Here they seem to prefer to stay at first: later, they seek 

 the uplands and venture about the abodes of men. 



178 



