22 NORTH AMKRlCA>i T.IRDS. 



weok, 1 i'ouiul this hanie i)aii', wliicli I easily ivcoj^niizcd, luiildiny; tlieir nest 

 among some vinos near my lioiisc, some eiglit I'oet from the groninl. They 

 luid abandoned my neiglilior's grounds and taken refuge close to my house. 

 This situation tiiey resorted to afterwards for several successive sunnners, each 

 season building two nests, never using the same nest a second time, although 

 each time it was left as clean and in as good condition as wlien first made. 

 Indeed, this species is remarkal)le for its cleanlhiess, both in its own person 

 and in its care of nestlings and ncists. 



Tlioy feed tlieir young chieily with insects, especially small caterpillars ; 

 tlie destructive canker-worm is one of their favorite articles of food, also the 

 larva; of insects and the smaller moths. When crundis of bread are given 

 them, they are eagerly gathered and taken to their nests. 



In the ^liddle States they are said to have three broods i a setison. This 

 may also be so in Xew pjigland, but 1 have never known one j)air to have 

 more than two broods in tiie same summer, even wjien both had been suc- 

 cessfully reared. Nests found after July have always been in cises where 

 some accident had bel'allen the ])receding brood. 



The nest of the Song Sparrow, whetiier built on grouml, bush, or tree, is 

 always well and thoroughly made, K.xternally and at tiie bfise it consists of 

 stout stems of grasses, iibrous twigs of plants, and small sticks and rootlets. 

 These are strongly wrought together. AVitliin is made a neat, well-woven 

 basket of fine long stems of gras.ses, rarely anything else. On the ground 

 they are usually concealed beneath a tuft of grass ; sometimes they make a 

 covered passage-way of several inches, leading to their nest. When built 

 in a tree or slirub, the top is olten sheltered by the branches or by dry 

 leaves, forming a covering to the structure. 



The eggs of the Song Sparrow are live in number, and have an average 

 measurement of .82 by .00 of an inch. They have a ground of a day-color 

 or dirty white, and are spotted e(pially over the entire egg with blotciies of 

 a rusty -brown, intermingled with lighter shades of i)urple. In some these 

 markings are so numerous and coniluent as to entirely conceal the ground- 

 color ; in others they are irregularly diifused over dill'erent parts, leaving 

 patches unmarked. Occasionally tlio eggs arc unspotted, and are then not 

 unlike those of Lcacoatidc (/riacaincha. 



Melospiza melodia var. fallax, Baird. 



WESTERN SONG SFABBOW. 



Zmwtrickia fdlhi.t; 15aiim), I'r. A. N. Sc. Ph. VII, June, IS.U, llil (I'lidilo Cici-k, New 

 Moxico). I Xonotrkhut faxciala, (Om.) GAMnEl, .1. A. N. Sc. V\\. 2il .Seiics, I, 18-47, 

 49. Mi'hisiiizii falliix, Uaii!!), IJinls X. Am. 18,^8, 481, pi. xxvii, f. 2. — Kknneuly, 

 P. 11. 1!. X, h. pi. x.\vii, f. •>. — (.'(i(.im;1!, Oiii. Oil. I, 21,'i. 



Sp. Char. Similar to var. meloJin, but willi llic hill on tin? whole liillior .><innllor, 

 more sk'iidci', ami il:irkt'i'. Logs ciuito <liisky, not yoUow. Enliio pluuiagc of a nioi'o 



