968 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



thickets have been cut away. In the extreme southwestern part of 

 the State, they are rare in summer, as they are in Nelson County, 

 Ky. (Beckham), and in southern Illinois (Ridgway). The last named 

 gentleman says: "While the Song Sparrow breeds in the extreme 

 northern part of Illinois, it is known in the southern portions only 

 as a winter resident, * * * abundant, but very retiring, inhab- 

 iting almost solely the bushy swamps in the bottom lands, and un- 

 known as a song bird" He also notes that it breeds at Paris, Edgar 

 County, 111. (Birds of 111., I., pp. 283, 284). In Indiana it breeds, 

 and its songs are heard through summer, at least, as far south as Jef- 

 ferson and Knox counties. It has been reported as breeding in Dear- 

 born, Brown, Monroe, Putnam, Vigo, Sullivan and Knox counties. In 

 Franklin County, I have found it begins singing early, sometimes by 

 February and keeps at it all through spring, summer and fall. I some- 

 times wonder if its song is not sung on bright days every month in the 

 year. 



I heard one singing October 5, 1897. The migrants return to 

 northern Indiana in February and March. The following are early and 

 late dates on which the first returned: Sedan, February 9, 1894, 

 March 8, 1897; Laporte, March 1, 1894; Petersburg, Mich., March 

 4, 1889, March 10, 1897; Chicago, 111., March 10, 1894, March 23, 

 1896. Everywhere they are most numerous during the migrations. 



I have found them mating at Brookville as early as February 27 

 (1886), and have found nest and eggs April 28, 1883. Mr. J. 0. 

 Snyder reports nest and eggs at Waterloo, April 28, 1885. Two 

 broods are reared in a year. Nests have been found as late as July 

 23, 1893, and August (Cook, Birds of Mich., p. 115). The Song 

 Sparrow frequents thickets along streams and in low ground gen- 

 erally, also gardens, small fruit farms, and bushes and hedges along 

 highways. It is a well-known bird, and its song, although not so 

 attractive as that of the Field Sparrow, or so pleasing as that of the 

 Vesper Sparrow, exceeds that of most of our common birds. It is the 

 best singer about our gardens. Dr. T. M. Brewer said it sounded to 

 him like sttnide-sh'nide-sli'nide-sh'nide-ze ze ze ze ze ze, the first four 

 syllables slow, the rest in quicker time. As has been noted under the 

 Chipping Sparrow, its food has been found to be about one-third in- 

 sects and the great bulk of the remainder is grass and weed seeds. 

 Prof. F. H. King examined 52 specimens, of which 29 ate more or less 

 seeds; 1 ate 2 kernels of wheat. The total insect food was 11 lepidop- 

 tera, 25 beetles, 5 grasshoppers, 4 grasshoppers' eggs, 2 dragonflies, 

 1 cricket, 1 spider, 1 millipede, 4 dipterous insects, 1 heteropterous 

 insect (Geol. of Wis., I., p. 538). Brewer says they eat caterpillars 

 and other larvae. The canker worm is a favorite article of food. 



