342 SINGING BIRDS. 



SWAMP SPARROW. 

 Melospiza georgiana. 



Char. Above, streaked with brown, black, and buff; crown bay, 

 sometimes with indistinct median line of ash and streaks of black ; fore- 

 head black ; brown stripe behind eyes ; sides of head and neck ash ; 

 below, dull white, breast shaded with ash, sides shaded with brown ; 

 wings and tail tinged with bay. Length about 5^ inches. 



Nest. Under cover of long grass, in a swamp or wet meadow; usually 

 made entirely of grass, though sometimes weed-stems are added to the 

 exterior, and hair is used in lining. 



Eggs. 4-6 ; dull white, tinted with green, blue, or pink, blotched, often 

 clouded, with lilac and several shades of brown ; 0.80 X 0.60. 



The aquatic habits of these common, though httle known, 

 birds is one of their most remarkable pecuUarities. In New 

 England they arrive from the Southern States, where they win- 

 ter, about the middle of April, and take up their summer resi- 

 dence in the swamps and marshy meadows through which, 

 often without flying, they thread their devious way with the 

 same alacrity as the Rail, with whom they are indeed often 

 associated in neighborhood. In consequence of this perpetual 

 brushing through sedge and bushes, their feathers are fre- 

 quently so worn that their tails appear almost like those of 

 rats, and are very often flirted in the manner of the Wagtail. 

 Occasionally, however, they mount to the tops of low bushes 

 or willow-trees and chant forth a few trilling, rather monoto- 

 nous minor notes, resembling, in some measure, the song of 

 the Field Sparrow, and appearing like twc tw'' tw'' tw' tiv' tw' 

 twe, and twV tw'l 'tw hd" twe, uttered in a pleasant and some- 

 what varied warble. These notes are made with considerable 

 effort, and sometimes with a spreading of the tail. In the 

 spring, on their first arrival, this song is delivered with much 

 spirit, and echoes through the marshes like the trill of the 

 Canary. The sound now resembles the syllables ^tw 'tw 'tw 

 'twee 'twee 'tw 'twe 'twe, or 'tshp 'tshp 'tshe 'tsh 'tsh 'tsh 'tsh, 

 beginning loud, sweet, and somewhat plaintive ; and the song 

 is continued till late in the morning, and after sunset in the 

 evening. This reverberating tone is again somewhat similar 



