THE SWAMP SPARROW. 89 
I noted eagerly his head-stripes, similar to those of a Swamp Sparrow, his 
pale streaked breast, and his very demure airs. Then I retired while Mr. 
Jones put him across the creek, where | held him for my companion to study. 
During this whole manceuver the bird favored us now and then with a few 
delicate snatches of a sweet but very weak song. Is it any wonder that the 
Lincoln Sparrow is so little known to fame? 
Further west the case is somewhat different. Mr. Trippe in writing of 
the birds of Colorado, says, ““Lincoln’s Finch is abundant and migratory. It 
breeds from about 9,500 or 10,000 feet up to the timber line. It arrives at 
Idaho Springs early in May, and soon 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 wil- 
lows and junipers. Reappearing in the valleys in October, it lingers by the 
streams for a few weeks and then disappears.” 
No. 4I. 
SWAMP SPARROW. 
A. O. U. No. 584. Melospiza georgiana (Lath.). 
Description.—Adult: Forehead black; crown and occiput rich chestnut, 
bordered posteriorly with blackish streaks; superciliary line, and sides of head 
and neck all around ashy gray; indistinct blackish markings on side (rictal and 
post-ocular stripes) outlined against the gray; scapulars and interscapulars broadly 
and strikingly streaked with black margined with rufous and buffy; rump clearer 
ochraceous ; tail-coverts again streaked with black on rufous ground; tail rufous 
with brighter edgings and dusky shafts, and sometimes indistinct fine cross-bars 
(as in M. melodia) ; wings plain rufous, coverts and inner quills with black cen- 
ters; edge of wing white; below, gray or sordid white, with strong tawny wash 
on sides, flanks and crissum, the flanks faintly streaked with black; bill black 
above, lighter below. ‘The purity of chestnut on head varies considerably accord- 
ing to age and season, having a large admixture of black in younger birds, and 
in adults in winter. In the fall also the pileum is divided by an indistinct gray 
line, and the breast is tinged with brown. Length, about 5.75 (146.1); wing 
240 (Ol) tail 2235) (50%) 5 bill 46 (10-7). 
Recognition Marks.—Warbler size but stockier; very like a Song Sparrow, 
but forehead black, and crown uniform chestnut; breast not streaked. 
Nest, and eggs not clearly distinguishable from those of the Song Sparrow. 
Eggs average perhaps a little smaller, say, .75 x .56 (19.1 x 14.2). 
General Range.—E astern North America to the Plains, north through the 
British Provinces, including Newfoundland and Labrador. Breeds from the 
