BIRDS OF NEW YORK 315 



Melospiza melodia melodia (Wilson) 



Song Sparrow 



Plate 84 



Fringilla melodia Wilson. Amer. Orn. 1810. 2:125. pl- 16, %. 4 



DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 150, fig. 156 

 Melospiza melodia melodia A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 272. 

 No. 581 

 melospiza, Gr., [J-sAo;, song, and azt'Ca, a finch; melodia, sweet-singing 



Description. Prevailing color of the upper parts brown streaked on the 

 back ivith blackish and more or less edged with gray; a grayish stripe through 

 the middle of the crown; tail rather long and rounded, plain brown; under 

 parts white, spotted and streaked on the breast and side with blackish, these 

 streaks more or less bordered with brown, the spots on the center of the 

 breast confluent into a large blotch of blackish; also on the sides of the throat 

 tending to form conspicuous submalar streaks or triangular spot. Throat 

 very slightly spotted; abdomen plain white; bill brownish. 



Length 6-6.8 inches; extent 8.5-8.9; wing 2.5-2.8; tail 2.6-2.7; bill 

 .49; tarsus .82. 



Distribution. Of all the numerous subspecies of Song sparrow, this 

 is the only one found in the eastern United States. It breeds from southern 

 Mackenzie, central Keewatin, central Quebec and Cape Breton to Nebraska, 

 Kentucky and North Carolina, and winters from Illinois and Massachusetts 

 to the gulf coast. In New York State this species is an abundant stunmer 

 resident and in all the warmer portions of the State remains throughout 

 the winter in considerable numbers, in the lower Hudson valley and the 

 country about New York City being a common winter species. In central 

 and western New York it is a resident, but in the wintertime confined 

 mostly to the shelter of swamps and marshes, and is seldom seen unless 

 one visits those localities. Throughout the greater portion of the State 

 they begin to appear from the loth to the 28th of February in the warmer 

 localities, these birds being undoubtedly some that have wintered in the 

 swamps of the immediate vicinity. Migratory birds in western New York 

 appear from the ist to the 15th of March. By the 20th to the 30th of 

 March they become abundant in nearly all localities. In the fall the 



