( 507 ) 



SONG SPARROW. 



Fringilla melodia, Wils. 



PLATE XXV. Vol. I. p. 126. 



My friend Dr T. M. Brewer of Boston has sent me the following 

 remarks : — " I think there is good reason for believing that two dis- 

 tinct species are confounded under the name of Fringilla melodia. I 

 have long observed the striking differences exhibited by eggs supposed 

 to belong to this bird, and within a few months Mr Cabot had pointed 

 out to me a uniform difference of plumage, which always accompanies 

 this difference of the eggs. One of these supposed species had been 

 painted by Wilson. It differs in having its breast more universally 

 spotted, while that of the other is much less so, except in the centre, 

 where a number of confluent spots form a distinct star. This last bird 

 is the one painted by you, and is by far the most common. The former 

 builds its nest in bushes or young trees at least two feet from the 

 ground. The most common resort for this purpose is a young cedar 

 tree, where the branches are very thick, where I have twice found an 

 arched entrance leading to it> and a cover to the nest, made by weav- 

 ing straw and hay among the thick foliage of the tree. The other al- 

 ways builds on the ground. I have found in the nest of the former six 

 eggs, but never more than five in that of the latter. The egg of Wil- 

 son's bird is larger and less pointed at the small end, the ground-colour, 

 so far as it can be seen, appears to be white, but the whole of the egg 

 is so t'lickly spotted with blotches of a rusty brown as to appear al- 

 most wholly of that colour. The eggs of your bird are of a less size, 

 the smallest end obtuse, the ground-colour of a distinct light green, 

 and perceptible over the whole eg^, not even excepting the larger end, 

 where the spots of lilac-brown, with which the egg is spangled over, 

 are the thickest. These differences are uniform. There is still an- 

 other, which should not be overlooked. The former is always known 

 to breed apart from the habitations of man, in old orchards and pas- 

 tures ; the other is often found to build its nest in our gardens, and not 

 unfrequently imder our windows. Such coincident differences cannot 

 be merely casual, and therefore I do not see why birds differing in plu- 

 mage, nest, and eggs, as well as in habits, should not be regarded as 

 distinct species." 



