£be TOartrter 



91 



pair have raised their brood in a Crimson Rambler rose arbor ten feet from 

 the ground. 



These birds remain about the lawn all winter unless the weather is 

 particularly severe, and I have often fed them when the ground was covered 

 with snow. They are most persistent songsters and their song is a real gem 

 in bird music and is not confined to the breeding season. I have heard 

 their cheerful notes on my lawn every month in the year. 



They begin nesting quite early and probably rear two broods each 

 season. The nest is usually built upon the ground and carefully concealed. 

 It is constructed almost entirely of dried grasses. The eggs are four or five 

 in number, of a light chocolate color freely intermingled with some grayish 

 tints, often of a greenish shade. Sometimes the gray predominates, some- 

 times it is chocolate, a series of eggs showing a wide variation in coloring. 



I am afraid that a good many Song Sparrows are mistaken for English 

 Sparrows and killed. It is not an easy matter for an inexperienced person to 

 tell one species from the other where both are to be found, and promiscuous 

 shooting in such cases is sure to result in the destruction of some Melospizas. 

 The Song Sparrow is a very useful bird and a most delightful one to have 



NEST AND EGGS OF SONG SPARROW 



