PASSERES—FRINGILLID. Toe 
west, with an apparent intention of remaining to possess 
the state. Let us hope so. 
209. (581.) MELosPIzA CINEREA MELODIA (Wils.). 105. 
Song Sparrow. 
Synonyms: Melospiza fasciata, M. melodia, Fringilla melodia, 
F. fasciata. 
Silver-tongue. 
Kirtland, Ohio Geol. Surv., 1838, 164. 
Next to the Chipping Sparrow, this is probably our best 
known sparrow (always omitting mention of Britain’s con- 
stant representative). It is present during the entire year 
in all parts of the state, but, unlike Junco, is far less com- 
mon in the northern third in winter than elsewhere, and far 
less than it is during the summer. In summer it lives in 
the brushy tangles bordering woods and swamps, or the 
fields where weeds are allowed to grow, or even the back’ 
yards in the more thinly settled parts of towns and villages. 
In winter it loves brush piles in the woods, provided there 
is a good supply of food at hand. It is also found in some 
numbers in the thick tangle of grass and sedges bordering 
the swamps and bogs. It begins to sing early in February 
if there be bright days. The early spring songs differ from 
the later ones. 
Only six per cent. of the food of this sparrow could pos- 
sibly be of any use to man, while the weeds and injurious 
insects destroyed are something enormous in quantity when 
the abundance of the species is considered. It is true that 
its increasing familiarity tends to develop in it a taste for 
ripe fruits and more grain, but the useful things destroyed 
are so completely overbalanced by the good it does that we 
can afford to freely forgive and forget. 
The great increase in the numbers of this sparrow in 
Lorain county occurs about the first of April; then large 
numbers arrive from the south and swell the numbers al- 
ready here. 
