164 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



Sparrow, White-crowned. Length, six and three- 

 quarter inches; bill, half an inch, dusky above, flesh color 

 below; crown, jet black, with a broad central white stripe 

 and a narrow one over each eye; back, mottled brown and 

 gray; rump, grayish brown; tail and wing, dull brown, 

 the latter crossed by two white bars; below, gray; center 

 of belly and throat, white. Young birds have the head 

 brown above. A rare migrant in New Jersey, breeding 

 north of the United States, with much the same habits as 

 the following. 



Sparrow, White-throated, or Peabody Bird. 

 Length, six and three-quarter inches; extent, nine 

 inches; bill, half an inch in length, bluish horn color; 

 head, a yellow line before the eye, centre of crown a 

 white stripe and on each side of this a much wider black 

 stripe, white stripe from the eye backwards alongside of 

 head and a white patch on the throat ; back, brown with black 

 streaks and a light edge of gray; breast, ash; belly, white; 

 rump, grayish brown; sides, grayish brown; tail and 

 wings, grayish brown, the latter yellow at the bend and 

 crossed by two bars of white; legs, flesh-color. The 

 young bird has the head brown instead of black and 

 white, and the white throat is more obscured. 



The nests are built on the ground or in low bushes, of 

 grasses, roots, moss and bark, lined with finer grass. 

 The eggs are either four or five in number, of a bluish 

 white with brown spots, and four-fifths by three-fifths of 

 an inch in size. 



The birds breed along the northern border of the United 

 states northward and along the high mountains south- 

 ward and in the winter are distributed throughout the 

 eastern United States from about the middle of New Jer- 

 sey southward. 



Their song, which is plaintive, remarkably sweet and 

 clear, is heard all winter. 



Their food consists of seeds, principally those of alders 

 and weeds. 



