326 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



becomes very common, haunting the thickets and brush heaps by the 

 brooks, and behaving very much like the Song Sparrow. During the 

 breeding season, it is most abundant among the bushes near and 

 above timber line, nesting as high as it can find the shelter of willows 

 and junipers. Reappearing in the valleys in October, it lingers by 

 the streams for a few weeks and then disappears." 



It is also said to be abundant in spring and fall in Iowa, and 

 Mr. Ridgway reports it as wintering in great numbers in Southern 

 Illinois. 



It has been found breeding at Fort Yukon in Alaska, and also 

 throughout the northern portions of British America to the Arctic 

 Ocean. 



MELOSPIZA GEORGIANA (Lath.). 

 236. Swamp Sparrow. (584) 



Crown, ])right l)ay or chestnut, lilackening on the forehead, often with an 

 •obscure median ashy line and usually streaked with black ; cervix, 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 obsoletely streaky ; belly, whitish ; sides, flanks and crissum, strongly 

 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 

 «dging ; tail, likewise strongly edged with bay and usually showing black shaft 

 lines. Further distinguished from its allies l)y the emphasis of the l)lack, bay 

 and ash. Length, o^-G ; wing and tail, 2:i-2|^. 



Hab. — Eastern North America to the Plains, accidentallj' to Utah, north to 

 the British Provinces, including Newfoundland and Labrador. Breeds from 

 the Northern States northward, and winters in the Middle States and south- 

 ward. 



Nest, on the ground in a moist place, sometimes in a tussock of grass or 

 low bush, composed of weeds, grass and rootlets, lined with fine fibrous 

 substances. 



Eggs, four to six, grayish-white, speckled with reddish-brown. 



This is, perhaps, the least known of any of our common Sparrows, 

 for it seldom comes within reach of the ordinary observer, and even 

 by the collector it is apt to be overlooked, unless he knows its haunts 

 and goes on purpose to seek it. It is very common by the shores of 

 Hamilton Bay, where it may be seen skulking along the line where 

 land and water meet, and if disturbed at once hides itself among the 



