AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 229 



FIELD SPARROW, 



A. O. r. No. 563. (Splzella pusilla.) 



RANGE. 



The United States and southern California east of the Plains. Win- 

 ters along the Gulf Coast and breeds from middle United States north- 

 wards. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length, 5.5 inches; extent, 8 inches; tail, 2.5 inches. Eye brown. 

 Bill pale reddish and feet pale brown. Crown dull chestnut, some- 

 times showing traces of a median stripe. Ear coverts and postocular 

 stripe also pale chestnut. Under parts white washed with pale brown 

 on the breast and sides. Back rusty brown narrowly streaked with 

 blackish. Two more or less distinct wing bars formed by the grayish 

 tips to the middle and greater wing coverts. Rump and tail brown, 

 the latter rather darker than the former and having the feathers edged 

 with grayish. 



Western Field Sparrow. 



No. 563a. (S. p. arenacea.) 



Very similar to the eastern variety but having a longer tail and 

 broad gray median stripe on the crown. Found in the Great Plains 

 from Texas to the Dakotas. 



Worthen's Sparrow. 



Ao. 564. (Spizella wortheni.) 



Like the Western Field Sparrow except that the tail is shorter, the 

 wing bars much paler, and the postocular stripe lacking. Locality, 

 New Mexico. 



NEST AND EGGS. 



These three varieties of the Field Sparrow nest equally often on the 

 ground or in small bushes. The nest is made of fine grasses and roots 

 and nearly always lined with horse hair. They lay from three to five 

 delicate bluish white eggs which are specked over the entire surface, 

 but more particularly about the larger end with lilac and reddish brown. 

 About the latter part of May, nests containing full sets of eggs may 

 be found. Very frequently two broods of young are raised in one 

 season. 



The accompaning photograph by Mr. Embody illustrates a very typ- 

 ical nest located on the ground. 



HABITS. 



As their name implies. Field Sparrows are inhabitants entirely of 

 fields, not those that are carpeted with fresh green grass, but rather 

 high and dry ones, dotted here and there with low bushes or shrubbery. 



