THE OOLOGIST 



89 



or in a bunch of grass or small weeds 

 in the s\vanij)s. It usually lays four 

 eggs, occasionally five. These super- 

 ficially resemble the Song Sparrow 

 in general appearance, but a well 

 selected series of each species will 

 disclose pronounced differences. The 

 ground color in the Swamp Sparrow 

 being usually of a lighter green, the 

 eggs appreciably smaller and not so 

 thickly spotted, but usually with larg- 

 er spottings than those to be found 

 on the Song Sparrow. 



The nest is constructed of grass, 

 fine weeds and lined with finer straws 

 or grasses, deeply cupped and not in- 

 frequently with its base sunken into 

 the ground. 



This little bird is a harmless mem- 

 ber of its tribe, not especially benefi- 

 cial, and for that reason (?) is sel- 

 dom disturbed or persecuted by man; 

 as the genus Homo seems to exhaust 

 most of his distructive energies in 

 assaults ui)on highly beneficial mem- 

 bers of the bird tribe. 



We present herewith a photo of a 

 typical nest and set of eggs of this 

 species in situ, taken in the vicinity 

 cf Philadelphia by H. E. Bishop, who 

 is well known to the readers of THE 

 OOLOGIST. It is especially good in 

 view of the fact that it is i)erfec-tly 

 typical. 



No. 28 Nest and eggs of Swamp Sparrow. 



—Photo by H. E. BishoiJ 



