308 FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 



towai-d the silent straggler, while in the autumn he is lost in the waves 

 of Sparrows that flood the country. 



If we follow him northward, we find him irregularly distributed in 

 small colonies or single pairs in damp clearings, perhaps along brooks 

 or ponds, but avoiding almost entirely the wetter, more open localities, 

 where the Swamp Sparrow is at home. Attracted by a sharp chirp 

 which, at times reduplicated, resembles that of a young Chipping 

 Sparrow, we may succeed in catching a glimpse of him as he lurks 

 beneath a little spruce perhaps no bigger than an umbrella. 



Sometimes venturing timidly to the outer boughs of a spruce, he 

 surprises Jthe hearer with a most unsparrowlike song. It is not loud, 

 and suggests the bubbling, guttural notes of the House Wren, com- 

 bined with the sweet rippling music of the Purple Finch, and when 

 you think the song is done there is an unexpected aftermath. The 

 birds sing very little and at long interrals, and are seldom heard dur- 

 ing the later hours of the day, ceasing at once if anybody approaches. 



J. DwiGHT, Jr. 



584* Melospiza geovgiSLUSL (Lath.). Swamp Sparrow. Ad. in 

 summer. — Crown chestnut-rufous ; forehead black ; a grayish line over the 

 eye; a blackish line behind the eye; nape slaty gray with a few black 

 streaks ; feathers of the back broadly streaked with black and margined 

 with rufous and cream-buff or ashy buft"; wing-coverts rufous, the greater 

 ones with black spots at their tips ; rump rufous grayish brown, sometimes 

 streaked with black; tail rufous grayish brown, the middle feathers darker 

 along their shafts; throat and middle of the belly white, breast grayish, sides 

 washed with pale grayish brown. Ad. in tvinter and Im. — Similar, but the 

 top of the head streaked with black, rufous-brown, and grayish ; nape less 

 gray; breast washed with brownish.^ L., 5-89; W., 2-34; T., 2-32; B., -46. 



2{anqe. — Eastern North America; breeds from northern Illinois and Penn- 

 svlvania northward to Labrador ; winters from southern Illinois and Massa- 

 chusetts to the Gulf. 



Washington, very common T. V., Apl. to May 15 ; Sept. 25 to Oct. 30 ; a 

 few winter. Sing Sing, tolerably common S. K., Apl. 4 to Dec. 2; a few 

 winter. Cambridge, abundant S. R., Apl. 12 to Nov. 10 ; a few winter. 



Nest., generally similar to that of M. fasciata., on the ground. I^ggs^ four 

 to live, similar in color to those of M. fasciata^ but the markings are generally 

 more confluent, '76 x 57. 



While wintering in the south, Swamp Sparrows frequently belie 

 their name, and I have often found numbers of them in dry "old 

 fields" of broom sedge; but at the north they are more consistent, 

 and one rarely sees them beyond the confines of a wet meadow, or, 

 more preferably, a large grassy marsh with reed-bordered streams. 



Swamp Sparrows may be distinguished from their cousins, the Song 

 Sparrows, by their unstreaked breasts and totally different notes. Their 



