THE DICKCISSEL 



{Spiza americana.) 



As a rule, the members of the large 

 sparrow family are rather plain in their 

 dressing, but the subject of this sketch 

 is an exception, particularly the male 

 bird with its yellow trimmings, its black 

 patch on the throat, and the white mark- 

 ings on the under part of its body. The 

 female bird, unlike the gentle sex in the 

 human family, is less richly dressed, the 

 bright colors being more subdued and 

 the black throat spot reduced to spots 

 and streaks. In the vicinity of northern 

 Illinois and Indiana the Dickcissel ar- 

 rives late in April or early in May and 

 the cheer-f^ul song of the male may be 

 heard from sunrise to sunset. His most 

 favorite position is on tb\". extreme top 

 of a bush or tree, where he stands as 

 erect as a statue, with his head raised 

 in the air, his wings drooping and his 

 whole body fairly quivering with the 

 intensity of his feelings, he pours forth 

 his loud, metallic song. This song has 

 suggested the name for the bird, for it 

 sounds like the words see, see, dick, 

 dickcissel, cissel. Dr. Eliot Coues in- 

 terprets the note as "look! look! see me 

 here! see!" and Mr. A. W. Butler likens 

 the sound to that of dropping six silver 

 dollars from one hand to the other — 

 clenk, clenk, clenk-clenk-clenk. The fe- 

 male has a note, but it is much subdued. 



The mating of this sparrow sometimes 

 takes place before they reach their breed- 

 ing grounds, and nest building begins 

 at once. A variety of sites are chosen 

 by the different individuals. Some pre- 

 fer to nest in bushes at heights varying 

 from one to six feet from the ground, 

 while others choose a field, frequently 

 a clover field, where the grass is thick 

 and affords them both protection and 

 the necessary building material. The 

 nest is composed of leaves, roots, weeds 

 and grass and is nicely lined with hair 

 and grass. The eggs are three to five 

 in number, are pale blue in color and 



measure four-fifths by three-fifths of an 

 inch. The nest measures about five 

 inches in external diameter and is gen- 

 erally two inches in depth inside. Like 

 many of the nests of the sparrows it is 

 rather bulky in shape and loose in struc- 

 ture. 



As the Dickcissel breeds throughout 

 its United States range, it selects a va- 

 riety of localities for its nesting site, and 

 these may be widely separated. It is 

 difficult to imagine the same species of 

 bird nesting in the cultivated fields of 

 Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and on the 

 half barren plains of Texas. It prefers 

 settled portions of the country, where it 

 may build its nest in a hay field, a gar- 

 den, or in an orchard. Those birds 

 choosing the western part of the country 

 nest on the prairies, where the tall grass 

 affords concealment. 



This bird bears several different 

 names. To the farmer boy it is known 

 as Little Field Lark and Little Meadow 

 Lark, the latter name given to it, no 

 doubt, on account of its black throat and 

 the yellow markings on its breast which 

 render it similar in color to the meadow 

 lark. The ' name Black-throated Bunt- 

 ing is given to it on account of the black 

 patch on its throat, but it is not well 

 known under this name, except to orni- 

 thologists. 



The geographic range of the Dick- 

 cissel is very wide, extending from 

 Northern South America, northward to 

 Massachusetts, Ontario, Michigan, Min- 

 nesota and North Dakota. East of the 

 Alleghany Mountains it is said to be rare. 

 It breeds throughout its United States 

 range and winters south of the United 

 States. The Mississippi Valley forms 

 the chief avenue of its migration, as it 

 does for many other species of migra- 

 tory birds, and it may be found in very 

 large numbers in this region during the 

 month of April. Its advance reminds 



146 



