SWAMP SPARROW. 139 
You can not go far afield without meeting this singer. 
He is not only our commonest Sparrow, but one of our 
commonest birds. Generally you will find him on or 
near the ground at the border of some undergrowth, 
and if there be water near by, preferably a meadow 
brook, his presence is assured. When flushed he will 
doubtless make for the nearest thicket, “pumping” his 
tail, as Thompson expressively says, in describing his 
somewhat jerky flight. Now he questions you with a 
mildly impatient chimp or trink, a call-note not to be 
mistaken for that of any other species, when once you 
have learned it. Equally diagnostic is the bird’s spotted 
breast with one larger spot in its center. 
The Song Sparrow’s nest is usually placed on the 
ground, but sometimes a bush. may be chosen for a nest- 
ing site. The eggs, four or five in number, are bluish 
white, thickly marked with reddish brown. The Song 
Sparrow rears three broods each year, the nesting season 
lasting from May to August. 
The Swamp Sparrow, a well-named cousin of the 
Song Sparrow, resembles his relative in his fondness for 
Swamp Sparrow, tlie vicinity of water and habit of tak- 
Melospien georgiana. ing refuge in low cover. He is a true 
Plate XLII. marsh or swamp bird, and is particu- 
larly abundant in large marshes. His call is an insig- 
nificant cheep, while his song is a simple, sweet, but rather 
monotonous tweet-tweet-tweet, repeated many times and 
occasionally running into a trill. 
The Swamp Sparrow nests from northern Illinois 
and Pennsylvania northward to Labrador. Its nest and 
eggs resemble those of the Song Sparrow. It is migra- 
tory in the northern part of the range, and is rare in win- 
ter north of southern New Jersey. 
Both the Song and Swamp Sparrow are, as we have 
seen, birds of the lowlands, though the latter also inhab- 
