THE LINCOLN SPARROW. 



No. 40. 



LINCOLN SPARROW. 



A. O. U. No. 583. Melospiza lincolnii (Aud.). 



Synonym. LINCOLN'S SONG SPARROW. 



Description. Adults: 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 of 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 denned 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 2.1 1 (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 is 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 



