146 THE LINCOLN SPARR<T^. 



of luad and iicck and remaining iindcrparts creamy buff, everywhere marked by 

 elongated and sharply dclincd black streaks; usually an abrupt dusky sjx)t on 

 center of breast; bill l)lackisii above. lij,diter below, feet brownish. l.en),'tii aljout 

 5.75 ( I4(). 1 ) : av. (if six siiecinuiis; wiiifj 2.4H ('>3l; tail 2. it (53.^)); bill 

 .40 ( 10.2 ). 



Recognition ,N\arks. — Warbler si/e ; l)ears general resemblance to Song 

 Sparrow, from which it is clearly distinguished by huffy chest-band, and by nar- 

 row, sharp streaks of breast and sides. 



Nesting. — Xcsl: much like that of Rusty Song Sparrow, of dried grasses, 

 etc., usually on ground, rarely in bushes. ll(j;/s: 3 or 4. greenish white sjxjtted 

 and blotched with chestnut and grayish. A v. size. .80 x .58 ( 20.3 x 14.7 I. Snisoii: 

 June, July; two ( ?) broods. 



General Range. — North America at large breetling chiefly north of the 

 L'nited Stales (at least as far as the Yukon \ailey 1 and in the higher parts of 

 the Rocky Mountains and the Cascatlc-Sierras ; south in winter to Panama. 



Range in Washington. — Im])erfectly made out — probably not rare s]>ring 

 and fall migrant, at least west of the Cascades; found breeding in the Rainier 

 National I 'ark. 



Authorities. — ("Liiicohrs h'inch," Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 (1885"), 

 22.] Bowles and Dawson, .\uk, XW. Oct. iQoS, p. 483. 



Specimens. -( I', of W. 1 I'rov. P.. 



MODh'STV is a i)c;iutiful trait, and, I suppose, if we had always to 

 choose Ijetwccii the brazen arrogance of the English Si)arrow and the shy 

 timorousness of this bird-afraid-of-his-shado\v, wc should feel obliged to 

 .iccept the latter. But why should a bird of such inconspicuous color steal 

 silently thru our forests and slink along our .streams with bated breath as 

 if in mortal dread of the human eye? .\re we then such hobgloblins? 



Thrice only have I seen this bird, and tlien in northern Ohio. On the 

 first occasion two of us followed a twinkling suspicion along a shadowy 

 woodland stream for upwards of a hundred yards. Finally wc neared the 

 edge of the woods. There was light! exposure! recognition! With an 

 inward groan the flitting shape quitted the last brush-])ile and rose twenty 

 feet to a tree-limb. Just an instant — but enough for our purpose — and he 

 had whisked over our heads, hot-wing niiou the dusky back trail. That 

 same May day wc came upon a little company of these Sparrows haltcfi by 

 the forbidding as])ect of Lake Erie, and dallying for the nonce in the dense 

 thickets which skirted a sluggish tributary. Here they skulked like moles, 

 and it was only by patient endeavor that wc were able to cut out a single 

 bird and constrain it to intermittent exposure at the edge of the stream. 

 Here, at intervals, from the opposite bank, wc eagerly look note of its hc.id- 

 stripes, pale streaked breast, and very demure airs, and listened to snatches 

 of a sweet but very weak song, with whicli the bird favored us in spile of 



