^■.\ 



> i 







IM 



306 



FINCH KS, SPARROWS, ETC. 



In Florida, where this bird is not unconunon during t^e winter, I 

 have found it in pine woods undergrown with turiiev onks, and not in 

 localities frequented by P. (Cfitiralis, Mr. Ridgway writes that in 

 Illinois this is "emphatically a bird of open oak woods, where large 

 ■white and j)ost oaks prevail, with grass land ininiediately adjoining, 

 or where the interval.^ between the trees consist of sward rather than 

 undergrowth; but neglected fields, grov.ii up to weeds, and in which 

 dead trees are left standing, are ixlao its favorite haunts." 



lie speaks of its song as reminding one somewhat of the plaintive 

 chant of the Field Sparrow, but as far sweeter and louder; "the m. Il- 

 lation, as nearly as can be expressed in words, resembling the syllables 

 iheeeeet'e-thut, luf, hit, ltd, the first l)eing a rich silvery trill, pitched in 

 a high musical key, ihe other syllables also metallic, but alwupt, and 

 lower in tone." 



681> Melospiza fiajsciaita> (Onul.). Sono Spakrow. Ad. — Crown 

 rufous-brown, witli a ;;rayisli line thro h its ffiitcr ; a frrayish line over tiie 

 eye; arut'ous-brown lino from behi lie eye to the nape ; feathers of the 

 buck streuUed witii blaek and niarj. ined witli rufous-brown and grayisii ; 

 greater wiiiu'-c'overts with black s[)ots at their tips; no wliite wing-bars or 

 yellow on tlie wing; tail rufous grayisli brown, the middle feathers darker 

 along their shafts; outer featliem shortest; sides of the throat with black or 

 blackish streaks; breast with wedgc-sliajied streaks of black and rufVius- 

 brown which tend to form one binjir Ithitch on the center; sides washed 

 with brownish and streaked with black and rutbus-brown ; middle of the 

 belly white. L., IV30; W., 2-r>i>; T., '2-02; R., •41t. 



Range. — Kastcrn North America; breeds from nortliern Illinois and Vir- 

 ginia north to Quebec and Manitoba; winters from southern Illinois and 

 Massachusetts to the Gulf States. 



Washington, common P. K., abundant T. V., Mcli. and Oct. Sing Sing, 

 common P. K. Cambridge, very abundant S. R., Mch. 10 to Nov. 1 ; locally 

 common W. V. 



I^est, of coarse grasses, rootlets, dead leaves, strips of bark, etc., lined with 

 finer gra.sscs antl sometimes long hairs, on the ground, sometimes in bushes. 

 Eggs, four to five, white or bluish while, with numerous rufous-brown mark- 

 ings which sometimes nearly conceal the ground color, "76 x •GO. 



The Song Sparrow's vast range in a dozen varying climates, its 

 readiness to adapt itself to the different conditions in each of the re- 

 gions it inhabits, its numerical abundance and steady increase while 

 st>me of its family are dying out, its freedom from disease and vermin, 

 and its perennial good spirits* evidenced by its never-failing music — 

 all proclaim that it is indeed one of Nature's successes. 



Its irrepressible vivacity and good spirits in spite of all circum- 

 stances are aptly illustratetl by the fact that its song may be heard in 

 every month of the year and in all weathers; also by night as well as 

 by day — for nothing is more common in the darkest nights than to 



