HELOSPIZA PALUSTRTS. '^"'• 



indeed they appear to he partly arpiatie, for if one be wounded it will instantly jump into 

 the water and strike out lioldly. I have also frequently seen them dive heueath the sur- 

 I'aee when I was about to eapture them, or creep into holes with the body submerged, be- 

 having- much as I have seen young ducks under similar circumstances. 



These sparrows, like the greater portion of the family, are seldom found in the woods 

 but prefer hedge rows along open fields. On the Magdalen Islands they find shelter in the 

 short shrubbery on the edges of the little clearings, they arc abundant on the margins of 

 the rich interval lands of IMaine, and thousands may be found in the thickets along fences 

 which intersect the farms of IMassachusetts. They also swarm in countless myriads in the 

 rank growth of vegetation along the river bottoms of Pennsylvania. On the borders of 

 the cotton plantations of the Sea Islands, they were very numerous and I even met them 

 in the orange groves of Northern Florida; in fact it is difficult to find a single locality where 

 one will not be greeted l)y the chirp or melodious carol of the Song Sparrow, for they are 

 one of the most ahundant of birds in the section of wliich I write. 



GENUS XV. HELOSPIZA. THE SWAMl' SPARROWS. 



CiT.Ti. Cn. Bill, somcirlwt s/cnckr, nut thick nor swollen at base. Upper mandible, but little cvrvrd. Winijs, lonycr 

 than tlie tail which is slit,htly rounded. Sternum, not stout, with the coracoids equal in knijth to the top of the keel which is 

 very low, not exceeding in heiijht one third the Icnfjth of the coracoids. Size, ralher small. 



I have been imluoed to f ill:iw Prof. Baird's susge^tion ;vs given in Birds of N. A. 185S, p. 477, and remove tlie species 

 licrewitli jiiven from tlie genus Mclospiza, not only on account of the differences in external structure, but also on account 

 of the peculiar form of the sternum which has as low a keel and as long coracoids as any genus in the Family, nut excepting 

 Amiiuidroiiius, to which Hehispiza is closely allied both in structure and in habit. 



HELOSPIZA PALUSTRIS. 



Swamp Sparrow. 



Helospiza patuslris B.mkd, llirds N. A.; 1858, 477. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sr. Cn. Form, rather robust. Size, small. Tongue, rather t'lin and liorny, provided with a bilid, terminal tuft of 

 hair-like fibers. Sternum, as given above. 



Color. Adult in sprint). Ear coverts, sides, flanks, upper porti.m of body, ycllowish-ruf lus, with the latter broadly 

 streaked wit!i dark-brown. Top of head, chestnut. Forehead, maxillary and su])crciliary lines, lores, back of neck, ami 

 band across breast, a.shy. Outar webs of wings and tail, bright reddish-brown, dullest on the latter; inner wcljs, brown. 

 Sjiots on sca])ularies and wing coverts, dark-brown. Throat, belly, abdomen, and under tail coverts, white, with the latter 

 tinged v/ith yellowish. Bill and feet, brown. 



Adult in winter. Similar to the above, but with the chestnut of the top <if head oliscured witli black markings, and a 

 median line of ashy extends from bill to occi])ut. 



Younij. Have the sides and flanks streakeil with dusky, while the top of the head is streaked witli black, and the sides 

 of the head are tinged with yellowish. 



Youncj of Iheyear. Colors above, more sufl'used, and there are but slight indications of maxillary lines. Tlicreisa 

 tinge of yeUowish over the throat, sides, flanks, and breast, and t'.ie latter is streaked with dusky. 



Nr.9tlinys. The ashy markings are obscured with yellowisli-ruf 'Us, ami the entire under parts arc tinged with it. 

 The lower neck and breast arc streaked more or less with dark-brown. Bill, lighter. Sexes similar in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Specimens varj' coa'^iderably in shade cjf color on the liack, .'ome I-.aving it nearly as bright as tlio crown. The strcnk- 

 ings are also broader on some than im others. Rea<lily distinguished in the adult stages by the clear chestnut crown and 

 black f )rehead, taken in conn.xtion with the ashy band across the breast. The younger stages may always ))e distinguished 

 by the bviglit rc<lilisli-brown wings which are very noticeable even in the nestlings. Distributed, during the breeding sea 

 Mn, throughout Eastern United States, frcJiii the latitude (if Pennsylvania north to that of Canada. Winters from the Car- 

 oliaas to Southern Florida. 



