FIN. His, M'.\I;I;M\VS. KTC. ;;,i7 



hear its sweet chant in ha .s answer to the hooting of the 



Owl or c\cn tin- rrjxirt of a gun. 



It is never sei-n fur from wntrr. and when it in alarmed it flies 

 downward or along never upward into some low thicket, pumping 

 iUs tail as it flies. 



Its alarm note is a simple iiu-tallic chip, which is very distinctive 

 when urn learned. Hut its merry chant which has won for it the 

 name of -S>ng Sparrow" is its best-known note. It is a voluble 

 ami uninterrupted but .-In-rt refrain, and is [xThaps the sweetest of 

 niliar voio-s of tlu- meadow lands. The song that it occasion- 

 ally utters whil- on the wing is of quite a different character, being 

 more prolonged and varied. 



Though so abundant, it ran nut IK' styled a sociable species. Kven 

 during the migrations it is never seen in compact flocks like the Red- 

 (Mill or Snow-flake; at most it will !* found forming a part of a long, 

 scattered migrat ing train that usually includes a number of different 

 but nearly related species. M.M K. THOMPSON. 



683. Melospixa lincolni .(/./.. LINCOLN'S SPARROW. Ad.^. 



I'pjHT part* Ktrcakvil with blaek, l>r<>wni>h irray, and frrayinh brown; tail 



tVathcnt nuntiw aiul rutlu-r pointed, the outer UK* shortttit; under part* 



rutlier finely Ktreuketl with black, a broad crtam-buf band OCTOM tht 



brt<ut, a cn-jiin-l'Uil' Mripe <>n .it ln-r side of tin- throat; side* tinged with 



Lull. 1... .v:.'. ; \S ., -.'-50; T., 2-40; B., -41. 

 jetmark.'Thc en-urn -huff band on the bn-u>t is cl'^tinctivc of thia 



M.. . h -. 



Ranyt. Ka-teni North Ainerii-u ; breeds from northern Illinois and north- 

 rk northward; winter* from southern Illinois t" Mexico; raie 



ciL-t of the Alle..'h:m:--. 



i.injrton, rare T. V., ocveral records, May and Got Sing Sing, rare 

 .. Cambridge, uncommon T. V., May 15 to May 25; 



Sept. I 



'. generally mintlar to that nf M. fatriatft, on the trnmiiil. A';/;/. four 

 to five, pale green or hiitlish, ioini-time ulmnt white, thickly spotte.l an. I 

 1 with n-ldiMh brown and lilac, -80 x 60'' (Chamberlain). 



The ni"-t -trikinu' ehanieteri^tic aUmt the Lincoln's Sparrow 

 shyne. win-tiler mi-rat in.i; in the lavish abundance of the west, stray- 

 ing casually through the States of the Atlantic seaboard, or settled 

 for the summer in a chosen spot of the northern evergreen woods. 

 ScamiKTiiig like a mouse along some tumble-down stone wall half 

 buried in |.i-.'ii ivy. sumach, mid all the tangled growth that goes 

 to make up an old 1 r |>ceriii:,' out from a clump of low- 



sproading bit-he*, this little bird may sometimes be detected; but as 

 he hurries northward late in the migration, when all the woods and 

 fields arc rin-ing with bird music, our attention is seldom directed 



