FIELD KEY 137 



c. Underparts cream-buff; a conspicuous whitish line over the eye; 

 upperparts rufous-brown; movements active; tail carried erect; 

 haunts lower growth; notes loud and striking; length 5 '50. 



718. CAROLINA WREN. 

 2. Back streaked. 



A. Crown rufous or chestnut without streaks. 



a. Length 5'25; bill black; a whitish line over the eye; a familiar 



bird of lawns and dooryards; song, a monotonous chippy- 

 chippy-chippy 560. CHIPPING SPARROW. 



b. Length 5' 50; bill reddish brown, back rufous, or rufous-brown; 



wing-bars and eye-ring whitish; haunts dry, bushy fields and 

 pastures; song, a musical, plaintive cher-wee, cher-wee, cher-wee, 

 cheeo, dee-dee-dee-dee 563. FIELD SPARROW. 



c. Length 5 '50; forehead black; crown and wings chestnut-rufous; 



flanks pale grayish brown; haunts marshes; song, a rapidly 

 repeated weet-weet-weet, etc 584. SWAMP SPARROW. 



B. Crown not rufous or chestnut. 



a. Length 6' 75; crown, blackish with a central whitish stripe; throat 



white; breast gray; a yellow spot before the eye; haunts in and 

 about thickets and bushy woodlands; song, a high, clear, musical 

 whistle; call-note, chink . . . 558. WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. 



b. Length 5*50; crown finely streaked; a tree climber, winding 



patiently up tree trunks in search of food; tail-feathers pointed. 



726. BROWN CREEPER. 



c. Length 5' 50; bill slender; a white line over the eye; tail carried 



erect; haunts reedy marshes; call-note scolding; song, rippling. 

 725. LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN. 

 II. Underparts not all one color. 



1. Underparts white or whitish, streaked or spotted. 



A. Back streaked. 



a. Crown streaked ; Underparts conspicuously streaked. 



a 1 . Outer tail-feathers white, showing conspicuously when the 

 bird flies; length 6' 00; haunts dry fields and roadsides; song 

 loud and musical 540. VESPER SPARROW. 



ft 1 . Outer tail-feathers not white. 



6 2 . Length 6'00; plumage with a rufous-brown cast; spots on the 



breast tending to form one large spot in its center ; haunts on or 

 near the ground, generally in the vicinity of bushes; call-note, 

 a characteristic chimp; song musical. . . .581. SONG SPARROW. 



6 3 . Length 6'00 ; no rufous in the plumage ; streaks on the underparts 



evenly distributed; frequently seen feeding on buds or blos- 

 soms; call-note, a sharp chink, often uttered during flight; 

 song, a sweet, flowing warble . . 517. PURPLE FINCH (Im.). 



b. Crown not streaked, rufous-brown; underparts whitish with an 



indistinct blackish spot in the center of the breast; Oct. to 

 Apl 559. TREE SPARROW. 



B. Back not streaked. 



a. Upperparts rufous, olive-brown, or cinnamon-brown. 



a 1 . Bill slender and thrushlike; breast spotted with blackish. 



a 2 . Length 11 '00; tail 5'00; wing- bars white; upperparts, wings, 

 and tail uniform rufous; haunts undergrowth ; sings from an 

 exposed and generally elevated position; song loud, striking 



and continuous 705. BROWN THRASHER. 



fe 2 . Length under 9'00; tail under 3'00; no wing-bars. 



6 3 . Breast and sides heavily marked with large, round^ black 



sp ts ;head and upper back brighter than lower back arid tail ; 

 call-note, a sharp pit or liquid quirt . 755. WOOD THRUSH. 



6 4 . Breast with wedge-shaped black spots; sides unspotted, 



washed with brownish ashy; tail rufous, brighter than back; 

 call-note, a low chuck 7596. HERMIT THRUSH, 



