

THE TREE SPARROW. 317 



"In some parts of New England, I found the opinion pretty 

 general, that the Snowbird, in summer, is transformed into the 

 Small Chipping Sparrow, which we find so common in that season. 

 I had convinced a gentleman of New York of his mistake in this 

 matter, by taking him to the house of a Mr. Gautier there, who 

 amuses himself by keeping a great number of native as well as 

 foreign birds. This was in the month of July ; and the Snow- 

 bird appeared then in the same colored plumage he usually has. 

 Several individuals of the Chipping Sparrow were also in the same 

 apartment. The evidence was, therefore, irresistible; but, as I 

 had not the same proofs to offer to the eye in New England, I had 

 not the same success. 



" There must be something in the temperature of the blood or 

 constitution of this bird, which unfits it for residing, during sum- 

 mer, in the lower parts of the United States, as the country here 

 abounds with a great variety of food, of which, during its stay, it 

 appears to be remarkably fond. Or perhaps its habit of associating 

 in such numbers to breed, and building its nest with so little pre- 

 caution, may, to insure its safety, require a solitary region, far from 

 the intruding footsteps of man." 



SPIZELLA, BONAPARTE. 



Spizella, BONAPARTE, Geog. and Comp. List (1838). (Type Fringilla Canaden- 

 sis, Lath.) 



Bill conical, the outlines slightly curved ; the lower mandible decidedly lower 

 than the upper; the commissure gently sinuated; the roof of the mouth not 

 knobbed ; feet slender ; tarsus rather longer than the middle toe ; the hinder toe a 

 little longer than the outer lateral, which slightly exceeds the inner; the outer claw 

 reaching the base of the middle one, and half as long as its toe ; claws moderately 

 curved; tertiaries and secondaries nearly equal; wing somewhat pointed, reaching 

 not quite to the middle of the tail ; first quill a little shorter than the second and 

 equal to the fifth, third longest; tail rather long, moderately forked, and divaricated 

 at the tip ; the feathers rather narrow ; back streaked ; rump and beneath immacu- 

 late; hood generally uniform. 



The genus differs from Zonotrichia in the smaller size, and longer and forked 

 instead of rounded tail. 



SPIZELLA MONTICOLA. Baird. 

 The Tree Sparrow. 



Fringilla monticola, Gmelin. Syst. Nat., I. (1788) 912. 



Fringilla Canadensis, Audubon. Orn. Biog., II. (1834) 511; V. 504. 



Fringilla arborea, Wilson. Am. Orn., II. (1810) 12. 



