402 FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 



pine woods having an undergrowth of scrub palmetto. Here it passes 

 most of its time on the ground, and is difficult to flush. 



When singing, it seeks an elevated perch. In my opinion its song 

 is more beautiful than that of any other of our Sparrows. It is very 

 simple I write it, che-e-e-e de, de, de', che-e chee-o, chee-o, chee-o, 

 chee-o but it possesses all the exquisite tenderness and pathos of the 

 melody of the Hermit Thrush; indeed, in purity of tone and in execu- 

 tion I should consider the Sparrow the superior songster. It sings most 

 freely very early in the morning and late in the afternoon, when the 

 world is hushed and the pine trees breathe a soft accompaniment to 

 its divine music. 



575a. P. se. bachmani (And.}. BACHMAN'S SPARROW. Similar to 

 the preceding subspecies, but the upperparts rufous, black streaks generally 

 confined to the back, or absent; line over the eye buffy; breast and sides 

 brownish cream-buff without streaks. 



Range. SE. U. S. Breeds in Carolinian and Austroriparian faunas 

 in cen. Ills, (locally to se. Iowa), s. Ind., s. Ohio and cen. Va. s. to cen. Tex., 

 and extreme nw. Fla. ; winters from s. N. C. s. into Fla. ; casual near Washing- 

 ton, D. C. 



Washington, one record, Apl. 



Nest, of grasses, domed and cylindrical, on the ground. Eggs, 3-4, pure 

 white, '74 x '60 (Bendire, Auk, V, 1888, 356). Date, Weaverville, N. C., 

 May 6; Greensboro, Ala., May 8. 



In Florida, where this bird is not uncommon during the winter, I 

 have found it in pine woods undergrown with turkey oaks, and not in 

 localities frequented by P. cestivalis. In South Carolina it was observed 

 in essentially similar localities, and its song did not differ materially 

 from that of cestivalis. Mr. Ridgway writes that in Illinois this is 

 "emphatically a bird of open oak woods, where large white and post 

 oaks prevail, with grass land immediately adjoining, or where the in- 

 tervals between the trees consist of sward rather than undergrowth; 

 but neglected fields, grown up to weeds, and in which dead trees are 

 left standing, are also its favorite haunts." 



He speaks of its song as reminding one somewhat of the plaintive 

 chant of the Field Sparrow, but as far sweeter and louder; "the modu- 

 lation, as nearly as can be expressed in words, resembling the syllables 

 theeeeeee-thut, lut, lut, lut, the first being a rich, silvery trill, pitched in 

 a high musical key, the other syllables also metallic, but abrupt, and 

 lower in tone." 



1888. BENDIRE, C. E., Auk, V, 351-356 (nesting). 



581. Melospiza melodia melodia (Wils.}. SONG SPARROW. Ads. 

 Crown rufous-brown, with a grayish line through its center; a grayish line 

 over the eye; a rufous-brown line from behind the eye to the nape; feathers 

 of the back streaked with black and margined with rufous-brown and grayish ; 

 greater wing-coverts with black spots at their tips; no white wing-bars or 

 yellow on the wing; tail rufous grayish brown, the middle feathers darker 

 along their shafts; outer feathers shortest; sides of the throat with black or 

 blackish streaks; breast with wedge-shaped streaks of black and rufous- 

 brown which tend to form one larger blotch on the center; sides washed 



