116 SOJVG SPAIUiOW. 



Nestlings. Show no traces whatever of the ashy, which is replaced J>y yellowish-rufous, niyl the under parts are very 

 strongly tinged with the latter named color. The streakings below occupy the same position, but arc not as wide, and do 

 not form a cluster on the breast. The bill and feet are lighter. Soxes .similar in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



There are few birds which are more easily recognized than the Sung Sparrow, yet it is difficult to find a species where 

 there is so much individual variation in respect to the markings below. In a large series before me, from many sections 

 east of the Mississippi River, I find that there is every gradation, from a breast so slightly spotted as to almost leave the 

 central cluster alone, to one so heavily marked as to nearly obscure the cluster, and even the throat, usually immarulatr, in 

 spotted. Rarely there is no clustering of spots on the breast in the adult; this character is, however, usually absent in 

 the nestlings. Specimens from Utah are less spotted than the average of more Eastern skins and are paler above. Known 

 in the adult stage by the streakings above and spots below, taken in connection with the ashy markings of the head. The 

 nestlings may be recognized by the reddish-brown wings and tail. Distributed during the breeding season from the latitude 

 of South Carolina to the far North. Winters from Massachusetts to Northern Florida. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of twenty-eight specimens. Length, 6'38; stretch, 8'75; wing, 2'55; tail, 2'77; bill, '48; tarsus, 

 75. Longest specimen, f>'75; greatest extent cf wing, 8'CO; longest wing, 2 f C: tr.il, 2'CO; bill, '0; tarsus, - 7C. Shortest 

 specimen, G'OO; smallest extent of wing, 9'00; shortest wing, 2'35; tail, 2'65; bill, '55; tarsus, '70. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, placed on the ground or in bushes. They are compact structures of grass, lined with finer. Dimensions; exter- 

 nal diameter, 4 - 00, internal, 2'50. External depth, 2'75, internal, T75. 



Eyys, f jur or five in number, oval in form, bluish in color, spotted and dotted with reddish-brown and lilac. Dimen- 

 sions from -05 x "70 to "85 x 'C5. 



HABITS. 



Winter has scarcely begun to relax his icy grasp from the water and to lift his snowy 

 mantle from off the land, when those harbingers of the coming spring, the Song Sparrows, 

 begin to chant their enlivening lay about the homesteads of New England. Loud and 

 cheerily do they sing on the bright mornings in early March, and when they have once 

 begun nothing seems to daunt their ardor. No matter how very stormy the weather, day- 

 light always finds them singing. I have heard their song when the wind was blowing a 

 gale, and the little performers- were obliged to seek shelter beneath the hedges, and have 

 seen one start to fly when the force of the blast was so great that it fairly swept him into 

 a thicket but he clung tenaciously to the boughs and, as if to bid defiance to the raging 

 elements, poured forth his liveliest carol. Rightly has this species been named melodia, 

 for none among our native birds sings so long or so often as the Song Sparrow. As we 

 have seen, they begin their musical efforts amid the snow.and sleet of the lingering winter, 

 continuing them through the spring and summer; nor docs the sultry heat of August cause 

 them to cease, for even then they sing during the cool of morning and evening. Through 

 the autumn their melodies may still be heard, and when the brown earth is covered with 

 fallen leaves our little, plainly colored friends occasionally indulge in the same clearly 

 given lay that they practiced earlier in the season. 



The Song Sparrows are among the first to breed of the smaller birds, nesting often by 

 the middle of April. The nests are sometimes placed in low bushes but oftener on the 

 ground. Shortly after the first brood have been reared a second litter of eggs is deposited 

 and often a third brood is brought out the same season. During the summer and autumn 

 these Sparrows are very fond of the neighborhood of streams and other bodies of fresh water, 



