254 FRINGILLID^ : FINCHES. 



think they are much more common than generally 

 supposed, but are so shy and inhabit such bushy pas- 

 tures, that they are hard to tind ' " (Rev. B. Conn., 

 1877, p. 38). A good account of the nesting of this 

 species has lately been published by Mr. Egbert Bagg, 

 Jr., from observations made in Hamilton Co., N. Y. 

 (Bull. Nutt. Club, ii, 1878, p. 197) ; but no New 

 England nests or eggs have ever been found. The 

 eggs are not distinguishable from those of the Song 

 Sparrow, though smaller ; the nesting is quite similar. 



SWAMP SPARROW. 

 Melospiza palustris ( Wtls.) Bd. 



Chars. Crown bright bay or chestnut, blackening on the forehead, 

 often with an obscure median ashy line, and usually streaked with 

 black ; cervix, entire sides of head and neck, and the breast, 

 strongly ashy, with vague dark auricular and maxillary markings, 

 the latter bounding the whitish chin, the ashy of the breast ob- 

 soletely streaky; belly whitish ; sides, flanks, and crissum strong- 

 ly shaded with brown, and faintly streaked ; back and rump, 

 brown, rather darker than the sides, boldly streaked with black 

 and pale brown or grayish. Wings so strongly edged with bright 

 bay as to appear almost uniformly of this color when viewed 

 closed, but inner secondaries showing black with whitish edgings ; 

 tail likewise strongly edged with bay, and usually showing sharp 

 black shaft lines. No yellowish anywhere ; no tail-feathers white; 

 further distinguished from its allies by the emphasis of its black, 

 bay, and ash. In the full-plumaged male, the crown is as con- 

 spicuously chestnut and black as that of Spizilla socialis ; in the 

 female it is less brightly colored. Length, 5.50-6.00; wing and 

 tail, each, 2.30-2.50. 



Were it not for its abundance, this timid and secre- 

 tive inhabitant of the thickest shrubbery would be little 



