88 THE LINCOLN SPARROW. 
No. 40. 
LINCOLN SPARROW. 
A. O. U. No. 583. Melospiza lincolnii (Aud.). 
Synonym.—LINCOLN’s SONG SPARROW. 
Description.—dAdults: Above, like preceding species, but crown brighter 
rufous, and with more decided black markings; back browner and more broadly 
and smartly streaked with black; the gray ot back sometimes with a bluish and 
sometimes with an olivaceous tinge; below, throat and belly white, the former 
never immaculate, but with small arrow-shaped black marks; sides of head and 
neck and remaining under parts creamy buff, everywhere marked by elongated 
and sharply defined black streaks; bill blackish above, lighter below; feet brown- 
ish. Length about 5.75 (146.1); av. of six Columbus specimens; wing 2.48 
(63.) ; tail 2.11 (53.6) ; bill .40 (10.2). 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; bears general resemblance to Song 
Sparrow, from which it is clearly distinguished by buffy band, and narrow, sharp 
streaks of breast. 
Nesting —Does not breed in Ohio. “Nesting like that of the Song Spar- 
row, and eggs not distinguishable with certainty” (Coues). 
General Range.—North America at large, breeding chiefly north of the 
United States (as far north as Fort Yukon) and in the higher parts of the Rocky 
Mountains and Sierra Nevada; south in winter to Panama. 
Range in Ohio.—Not uncommon spring and fall migrant, but seldom observed 
because of extreme shyness. 
MODESTY 1s a beautiful trait and I suppose if we had always to choose 
between the brazen arrogance of the English Sparrow and the shy timorous- 
ness of this bird-afraid-of-his-shadow, we should feel obliged to accept the 
latter. But why should a bird of inconspicuous color steal silently through 
our woods and slink along our streams with bated breath as if in mortal 
dread of human eye? Are we such hobgoblins ? 
The first and only day in Ohio that I ever saw this bird, two of us 
followed a twinkling suspicion along a shady woodland stream for upwards 
of a hundred yards. Finally we neared the edge of the woods. There was 
light! exposure! recognition! With an inward groan the flitting shape quitted 
the last brush-pile and rose twenty feet to a tree-limb. Just an instant—but 
enough for our purpose—and he had whisked over our heads and was hot- 
wing over the dusky back trail. That same day we came again upon a little 
company of them, halted by the sight of the great north water, and tarrying 
for the day in the dense thickets which skirted a sluggish stream emptying 
into Lake Erie. Here they were skulking like moles, in spite of the bright 
sunshine and fragrant air. Finally by working along one on each side of 
the creek, we succeeded in “cutting out’ a single bird. First Mr. Jones forced 
him to the water’s edge (always along the ground) and from across the stream 
