150 
NEW-YORK FAUNA-BIRDS. 
THE SONG SPARROW. 
Fringilla melodia. 
PLATE LXVUI. FIG. 156. 
(STATE COLLECTION.) 
Fringilla melodia. Wilson, Am. Orn. Yol. 2, p. 125, fig. 4. 
F. (Spiza) id. Bonaparte, Ann. Lyc, N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 108. Nottall, Man. Orn. Vol. 1, p. 48G. Audubon, 
folio, pi. 25. 
Emberizaid . Rich. & Swainson, F. B. A. Vol. 2, p.252. Kirtlard, Zool. Ohio, p. 164. Peabody, Birds 
of Mass. p. 323. Audubon, Birds of Am. Vol. 3, p. 147, pi. 189. 
Song Finch. Giraud, Birds of Long island, p. 121. 
Characteristics. Crown chesnut, with three longitudinal bluish bands. Breast and flanks 
streaked with oblong spots of blackish brown. First quill shorter than 
the second. Tail rounded. Length, six inches. 
Description. Hind toe and claw of equal length. Bill very robust. Third and fourth 
quills longest. Tail rounded, 1 • 6 longer than the tips of the closed wings; the feathers 
pointed. 
Color. Above streaked with red and brown. Crown minutely streaked with black. Line 
over the eye reddish white; a dark stripe behind the eye. Chin whitish ash, bordered on 
each side with deep rufous or dusky: another similarly colored line above this, including a 
light rufous space. Belly and vent white, immaculate. Tail with obsolete dusky bars. 
Female, smaller, and tail more dusky. 
Length, 6'2-6’5. Spread of wings, 8‘5. 
This little Sparrow is, with the Bluebird, the earliest harbinger of spring. Indeed, I have 
reason to believe that a few spend the entire winter in the Atlantic district of this State. 
Dr. Brewer supposes that two species may have been confounded under one name. The 
first, or the one figured by Wilson, with the spots generally distributed over the breast, builds 
its nest in low shrubs a few feet from the ground; the eggs so thickly spotted with brown, 
that the white ground is scarcely apparent. The other variety, or that figured by Audubon, 
has the breast less spotted, but a large confluent black blotch on its centre; builds its nest 
on the ground; the eggs smaller, and the ground color distinct light green, with the spots 
most crowded at the larger end. This sparrow breeds throughout all the Atlantic States, 
and has been noticed by Kirtland in Ohio, but does not appear to be so common in the 
interior. Its chief food consists of insects. It ranges from the 30th to the 50th parallel. 
