•324 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



shaft lines on the middle feathers at least, and often with obsolete wavy 

 markings. Length, 6-6^ ; wing, about 2^ ; tail, about 3. 



Hab. — Eastern United States to the Plains, breeding from Virginia and the 

 northern portion of the Lake States northward. 



Nest, on the ground, more rarely on a low tree or bush, composed of rootlets 

 and leaves, lined with tine grass and occasionally some horse-hair. 



Eggs, four or five, very variable in marking, usually gi'ayish or greenish- 

 white, blotched or spotted with brown, the shades of which differ greatly in 

 different specimens. 



This is an abundant summer resident, and one which seeks the 

 society of man, being found wherever human habitations have been 

 i-aised within its range. Large numbers pass on to the north in 

 April, returning again in October on their way south, but they do 

 not all leave us. While getting on or off the ice on Hamilton Bay in 

 the depth of winter, I have several times been surprised by seeing a 

 Song Sparrow rise from among the flags, which at that season have 

 a roof of snow, and no doubt afford a comfortable shelter to the 

 little birds. In the same locality, on a comparatively mild day in 

 the middle of winter, I have seen a male of this species mount to the 

 top of a bulrush and warble forth his pleasing, familiar notes, perhaps 

 in appreciation of the rising temperature. 



In the " Birds of Ohio," Dr. Wheaton mentions the following- 

 singular instance of the strong attachment which this species has for 

 its nest. Some laborers, who were cutting grass on a railroad track 

 near Columbus, found a nest of a Song Sparrow on the embank- 

 ment, and though rather a delicate piece of work for this class of 

 men to undertake, they moved it from its original site among the 

 grass and placed it gently, but loosely, on the fork of a horizontal 

 limb of a maple sapling, three feet from the trunk. Instead of 

 deserting the nest, as many birds would have done, or attempting 

 to secure it to the limb on which it was placed, the sparrows brought 

 long stems of timothy grass, and twisted them together and around 

 a limb extending over the nest at a distance of one and a half 

 feet. The lower ends of these stems were firmly fastened into 

 the rim of the nest, and other stems were woven in transversely, 

 forming a complete basket. The whole structure resembled an 

 inverted balloon, and in this remarkable construction the eggs were 

 hatcji^ed and the young safely raised. After the nest was deserted, 

 the guy ropes were found to be sufficiently strong to bear up the 

 nest, after the limb on which it was placed had been removed. 



The Song Sparrow is generally distributed throughout Ontario, 



