PASSERES — FRINGILLID^, 151 



west, with an apparent intention of remaining to possess 

 the state. Let us hope so. 



209. (581.) Melospiza cinerea melodia (Wils.). 105. 

 Song Sparrow. 



Synonyms: Melospiza fasciata, M. melodia, Fringilla melodia, 

 F. fasciata. 

 Silver-tongue. 

 Kirtland, Ohio Geol. Surv., 1838, 164. 



Next to the Chipping Sparrow, this is probably our best 

 known sparrow (always omitting mention of Britain's con- 

 stant representative). It is present during the entire year 

 in all parts of the state, but, unlike Junco, is far less com- 

 mon in the northern third in winter than elsewhere, and far 

 less than it is during the summer. In summer it lives in 

 the brushy tangles bordering woods and swamps, or the 

 fields where weeds are allowed to grow, or even the back 

 yards in the more thinly settled parts of towns and villages. 

 In winter it loves brush piles in the woods, provided there 

 is a good supply of food at hand. It is also found in some 

 numbers in the thick tangle of grass and sedges bordering 

 the swamps and bogs. It begins to sing early in February 

 if there be bright days. The early spring songs differ from 

 the later ones. 



Only six per cent, of the food of this sparrow could pos- 

 sibly be of any use to man, while the weeds and injurious 

 insects destroyed are something enormous in quantity when 

 the abundance of the species is considered. It is true that 

 its increasing familiarity tends to develop in it a taste for 

 ripe fruits and more grain, but the useful things destroyed 

 are so completely overbalanced by the good it does that we 

 can afford to freely forgive and forget. 



The great increase in the numbers of this sparrow in 

 Lorain county occurs about the first of April ; then large 

 numbers arrive* from the south and swell the numbers al- 

 ready here. 



