and brown spots on breast; a dark patch on center 

 of breast; a heavy black streak on each side of 

 throat. 



Our most common native sparrow; the familiar 

 "Ground-bird," found everywhere along brooks, 

 country road-ways, in waste fields, on grassy 

 slopes, along rail-fences, at the edge of the wood — 

 especially the cedar wood. This is the brown 

 sparrow you hear so often as he sings from fence- 

 post, stump or tree; at other times he is seen 

 skulking in an angle of the rail-fence or in the 

 edge of the thicket; or he may flush from his nest 

 in the long grass and flit to the nearbv cover of a 

 bush or cluster of weeds. You will hear his in- 

 sistent chirp or tseep, and notice his rather long 

 tail. 



584. Swamp Sparrow — Melospiza georg'iana. 



Length 5% inches. 



Underparts without streaks; throat and middle 

 of belly white; breast grayish; sides washed with 

 grayish brown; crown chestnut-rufous: a blackish 

 tine behind eye; forehead black; a grayish line 

 over eye; back broadly streaked with black. 



In spite of differences in color and marking, this 

 bird may easily be mistaken at first for a Song 

 Sparrow as he skulks in the long grass or low 

 bushes of his swampy retreat; but the Swamp 

 Sparrow's song, so simple and characteristic, is, 

 unmistakable. 



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