246 SWAMP SPARROW. 



ly able to fly. Their principal food is grass seeds, wild oats, 

 and insects. They have no song; are distinguished by a single 

 chip or cheep, uttered in a rather hoarser tone than that of the 

 Song Sparrow; flirt the tail as they fly; seldom or never take to 

 the trees, but skulk from one low bush or swampy thicket to 

 another. 



The Swamp Sparrow is five inches and a half long, and seven 

 inches and a half in extent; the bacjp of the neck and front are 

 black; crown bright bay, bordered with black; a spot of yellow- 

 ish white between the eye and nostril; sides of the neck and 

 whole breast dark ash; chin white; a streak of black proceeds 

 from the lower mandible, and another from the posterior angle 

 of the eye; back black, slightly skirted with bay; greater coverts 

 also black, edged with bay; wings and tail plain brown; belly 

 and vent brownish white; bill dusky above, bluish below; eyes 

 hazel; legs brown; claws strong and sharp for climbing the reeds. 

 The female wants the bay on the crown, or has it indistinctly ; 

 over the eye is a line of dull white. 



