404 FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 



across the breast, a cream-buff stripe on either side of the throat; sides 

 tinged with cream-buff. L., 5'75; W., 2'50; T., 2'40; B., "41. 



Remarks. The cream-buff band on the breast is distinctive of this 

 species. 



Range. N. A. Breeds in Boreal zones from Alaska and n. Ungava s. 

 to n. Minn., cen. Ont., n. N. Y., N. B., and N. S. and s. in the Cascade, 

 Sierra Nevada, and Rocky Mts. to s. Calif, and n. N. M. ; winters from San 

 Jacinto Mts., Calif., s. Okla., and n. Miss, to Guatemala; casual only e. of 

 the Alleghany Mts. s. of Washington, D. C. 



Washington, rare T. V., May 8-21; Sept. 30-Oct. 1. Ossining, rare T. 

 V., Sept. 29-Oct. 16. Cambridge, not uncommon, T. V., May 15-May 25; 

 Sept. 14-Oct. 10. N. Ohio, tolerably common T. V., Apl. 25-May 25. Glen 

 Ellyn, not common T. V., fall records only, Sept. 11-Oct. 9. SE. Minn., 

 common T. V., Apl. 17- ; Sept. 10-Oct. 30. 



Nest, generally similar to that of the Song Sparrow, on the ground. 

 "Eggs, 4-5, pale green or buffish, sometimes almost white, thickly spotted 

 and blotched with reddish brown and lilac, "80 x "60" (Chamberlain). 

 Date, Wilmurt, N. Y., June 10; Racine, Wise., June 6. 



The most striking characteristic about the Lincoln's Sparrow is its 

 shyness, whether migrating 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. 

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

 buried in poison ivy, sumach, and all the tangled growth that goes to 

 make up an old hedgerow, or peering out from a clump of low-spreading 

 bushes, this little bird may sometimes be detected; but as he hurries 

 northward late in the migration, when all the woods and fields are 

 ringing with bird music, our attention is seldom directed toward the 

 silent straggler, while in the autumn he is lost in the waves of Sparrows 

 that flood the country. 



If we follow him northward, we find him irregularly distributed in 

 small colonies or single pairs in damp clearings, perhaps along brooks 

 or ponds, but avoiding almost entirely the wetter, more open localities, 

 where the Swamp Sparrow is at home. Attracted- by a sharp chirp 

 which, at times reduplicated, resembles that of a young Chipping 

 Sparrow, we may succeed in catching a glimpse of him as he lurks 

 beneath a little spruce perhaps no bigger than an umbrella. 



Sometimes venturing timidly to the outer boughs of a spruce, he 

 surprises the hearer with a most unsparrowlike song. It is not loud, 

 and suggests the bubbling, guttural notes of the House W 7 ren, com- 

 bined with the sweet rippling music of the Purple Finch, and when 

 you think the song is done there is an unexpected aftermath. The 

 birds sing very little and at long intervals, and are seldom heard dur- 

 ing the later hours of the day, ceasing at once if anybody approaches. 



J. D WIGHT, JR. 



584. Melospiza georgiana (Lath.}. SWAMP SPARROW. Ads. in sum- 

 mer. Crown chestnut-rufous; forehead black; a grayish line over the 

 eye; a blackish line behind the eye; nape slaty gray with a few black streaks; 

 feathers of the back broadly streaked with black and margined with rufous 

 and cream-buff or ashy buff; wing-coverts rufous, the greater ones with 

 black spots at their tips; rump rufous grayish brown, sometimes streaked 



