FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 307 



hear its sweet chant in half-conscious answer to the hooting of the 

 Owl or even the report of a gun. 



It is never seen far from water, and when it is alarmed it flies 

 downward or along — never upward — into some low thicket, pumping 

 its tail as it flies. 



Its alarm note is a simple metallic chip, which is very distinctive 

 when once learned. But its merry chant — which has won for it the 

 name of "Song Sparrow" — is its best-known note. It is a voluble 

 and uninterrupted but short refrain, and is perhaps the sweetest of 

 the familiar voices of the meadow lands. The song that it occasion- 

 ally utters while on the wing is of quite a different character, being 

 more prolonged and varied. 



Though so abundant, it can not be styled a sociable species. Even 

 during the migrations it is never seen in compact flocks like the Red- 

 poll or Snowflake ; at most it will be found forming a part of a long, 

 scattered migrating train that usually includes a number of different 

 but nearly related species. ' Ernest E. Thompson. 



583. Melospiza lincolni (And.). Lincoln's Sparrow. Ad.^. 

 Upper parts streaked with black, brownish gray, and grayish brown; tail- 

 feathers narrow and rather pointed, the outer ones shortest; under parts 

 white, rather finely streaked with black, a broad cream-buff band across the 

 breast.^ a cream-bufF stripe on either side of the throat ; sides tinged with 

 cream-butf. L., 5-75 ; W., 2-50 ; T., 2-40 : B., -41. 



RfiwnarTcs. — The cream - butf band on the breast is distinctive of this 

 species. 



Range. — Eastern North America ; breeds from northern Illinois and north- 

 ern New York northward ; winters from southern Illinois to Mexico ; rare 

 east of the Alleghanies. ^ 



Washington, rare T. V., several records, May and Oct. Sing Sing, rare 

 T. v., Sept. 29 to Oct. 16. Cambridge, uncommon T. V., May 15 to May 25; 

 Sept. 15 to Oct. 5. 



Nest.^ generally similar to that of M. fasciata., on the ground. " Eggs., four 

 to five, pale green or bullish, sometimes almost white, thickly spotted and 

 blotched with reddish brown and lilac, -SO x 60" (Chamberlain). 



The most striking characteristic about the Lincoln's Sparrow is its 

 shyness, whether migrating in the lavish abundance of the west, stray- 

 ing casually through the States of the Atlantic seaboard, or settled 

 for the summer in a chosen spot of the northern evergreen woods. 

 Scampering like a mouse along some tumble-down stone wall half 

 buried in poison ivy, sumach, and all the tangled growth that goes 

 to make up an old hedgerow, or peering out from a clump of low- 

 spreading bushes, this little bird may sometimes be detected ; but as 

 he hurries northward late in the migration, when all the woods and 

 fields are ringing with bird music, our attention is seldom directed 



