3IO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Spizella pusilla pusilla (Wilson) 

 Field Sparrow 



Plate 83 



Fringilla pusilla Wilson. Amer. Orn. 1810. 2:121. pi. 1 6, fig. 2 

 Emberiza pusilla DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 158, fig. 152 

 Spizella pusilla pusilla A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 265. 

 No. 56.3 



pusilla, Lat., very small 



Description. About the size of the Chippy, but with longer tail; 

 crown chestnut rufous, also a postocular stripe and spot on the side of the 

 breast near the bend of the wing of the same color; the back similar to 

 the Chipping sparrow, but more extensively rufous; rump and upper tail 

 coverts less gray but more hair brown in color; wing bars rather incon- 

 spicuous; under parts dingy whitish, tinged somewhat on the breast and 

 sides with grayish buff; bill and legs pinkish brown. Young in first plumage 

 duller colored and streaked on the breast with darker. 



Length 5.68 inches; extent 8.15; wing 2.5; tail 2.55; bill .36; tarsus .74. 



Distribution. The Field sparrow is a common summer resident of 

 the greater portion of New York State, though absent from the higher 

 portions of the Catskills and the Adirondack forest, and decidedly less 

 common than the Chippy in the northern districts. The spring migration 

 begins between the 2Oth of March and the 6th of April. In the fall the 

 greater portion disappear between October I5th and November loth, 

 but in the southern part of the State, especially on Long Island and in the 

 vicinity of New York City, a few pass the winter. The breeding range 

 of this subspecies extends from southern Minnesota, southern Quebec and 

 southern Maine to Texas, Louisiana and northern Florida. The principal 

 winter range is from Missouri and New Jersey to the gulf coast. 



Haunts and habits. The haunts of the Field sparrow are bushy 

 hillsides and berry patches, edges of woodlands with a considerable under- 

 growth, hedgerows and neglected gardens. Wherever the Indigo bird 

 and Chewink find a convenient home, here the Field sparrow will be 

 plentiful. It feeds mostly upon the ground and among the low shrubbery, 

 like the Chipping sparrow, in the fall, winter and spring subsisting almost 



