256 FRINGILLID^ : FINCHES. 



circuitous flight, continuously uttering a fine steady 

 trill, until, having returned to the thicket, he dived into 

 it, ejaculating a few broken musical notes, after which 

 all was still.'' Common as the Swamp Sparrow is in 

 New England in suitable places during the gestation 

 of the year, it is still more numerous whilst migrating, 

 and then also more likely to come under observation. 

 It reaches our country betimes in April, and does not 

 depart until November ; having been seen at times so 

 late in the latter month as to color a suspicion that 

 some individuals may linger through the winter in 

 sheltered southern localities, as the Song Sparrow is 

 well known to do. 



SONG SPARROW. 



Melospiza fasciata (^Gm.) Sc. 



Chars. Thickly streaked everywhere above, on tlie breast, and along 

 the sides ; under parts otherwise white, slisjhtly shaded with 

 brown on the flanks and crissum, the streaks being dusky with 

 brown edges, usually collecting to form a blotch on the breast 

 and a chain of maxillary stripes on each side of the throat. Crown 

 dull bay, with fine black streaks, bordered and divided in two by 

 ashy lines ; vague brown or dusky markings on the ashy sides of 

 the head. Middle of back with the streaks black, edged with 

 ashy and bay; rump and hind-neck grayish-brown, with only a 

 few bay marks. Wing-feathers with dull bay edgings, the coverts 

 and inner secondaries marked like the middle of the back. Tail 

 plain grayish-brown, usually with dark longitudinal shaft-lines on 

 some or most of the feathers, and often with evident dark wavy 

 cross-bars : whence the new-fashioned name oi fasciata, revived 

 from the early writers. No yellow or yellowish anywhere. Length, 

 6.00-6.50 ; wing, about 2.50; tail, nearly or quite 3.00. 



An abundant summer resident throughout New Eng- 

 land, and one of the best known birds of that season. 



