BIRDS OF 



Song Sparrow. During the breeding season it is most abundant 

 among the bushes near and above timber line, nesting as high 

 as it can find the shelter of willows and junipers. Reappearing 

 in the valleys in October it lingers by the streams for a few 

 weeks and then disappears." 



It is also said to be abundant in spring and fall in Iowa, and 

 Mr. Ridgway reports it as wintering in great numbers in South- 

 ern Illinois. 



224. MELOSPIZA GEORGIANA (LATH.). 584. 



Swamp Sparrow. 



Crown bright bay or chestnut, blackening on the forehead, often with 

 an obscure median ashy line and usually streaked with black ; cervix, sides 

 of head and neck and the breast strongly ashy, with vague dark auricular 

 and maxillary markings, the latter bounding the whitish chin, the ashy of 

 the breast obsoletely streaky ; belly whitish ; sides, flanks and crissum 

 strongly shaded with brown and faintly streaked ; back and rump brown, 

 rather darker than the sides, boldly streaked with black and pale brown or 

 grayish. Wings so strongly edged with bright bay as to appear almost uni- 

 tormly of this color when viewed close, but inner secondaries showing black 

 with whitish edging ; tail likewise strongly edged with bay and usually show- 

 ing black shaft lines. Further distinguished from its allies by the emphasis 

 of the black, bay and ash. Length, 5^-6; wing and tail, 2|-2j. 



HAB. Eastern North America to the Plains, accidently to Utah, north 

 to the British Provinces, including Newfoundland and Labrador. Breeds 

 from the Northern States northward, and winters in the Middle States and 

 southward. 



Nest, on the ground in a moist place, sometimes in a tussock of grass or 

 low bush ; composed of weeds, grass and rootlets, lined with fine fibrous 

 substances. 



Eggs, 4 to 6 ; grayish- white, speckled with reddish-brown. 



This is, perhaps, the least known of any of our common 

 Sparrows, for it seldom comes within reach of the ordinary 

 observer, and even by the collector it is apt to be overlooked, 

 unless he knows its haunts and goes on purpose to seek it. It 

 is very common by the shores of Hamilton Bay, where it may 

 be seen skulking along the line where land and water meet, and 

 if disturbed at once hides itself among the rank herbage of the 



226 



