SONO SPAKEOW. 331 



1 Fringilla fasciata, Gmelix, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 922. 

 Fringilla melodia, WiLSON, Am. OrD., ii, 1810, 125. 

 Melospiza melodia, Baikd, Birds N. A., ISSB, 477. 



Below, white, slightly shaded with brownish on the flanks and crissum, breast and sides 

 with numerous dusky streaks, with brown edgps, coalescing to form a pectoral blotch and 

 maxillary stripes bounding the tbroat; crown dull bay, with fine black streaks, divided 

 and bounded on either side by ashy- whitish lines; vague brown or dusky and whitish 

 maikings ou the sides of tlie head; the interscapular streaks black, with bay and ashy- 

 white dgiogs; rump and cervix grayish brown, with merely a few bay marks; wings with 

 dull bay edgings, the coverts and inner quills marked like the interscapulars; tail obvi- - 

 ously longer than the wings, pale brown, with darker shaft lines, on the middle feathers 

 at least,, and often with obsolete wavy markings. Length, fi-6i; wing, about 2i; tai), 

 about 3. 



Habitat, Eastej'u United States, with geographical varieties to the Pacific; north to 

 Canada and Nova Scotia. 



Abundant, resident at least in Middle and Southern Ohio. Breeds. 

 Generally distributed, though most abundant along streams of water and 

 in low places. Often seen in gardens of the city, and breeding com- 

 monly in the suburbs. This is probably, next to the Chipping Sparrow, 

 the most familiar of all our native Sparrows, being generally known as 

 the "Ground Chippy.'' It is less arboreal than the common Chippy, and 

 a bird of considerable attractions as a vocalist. It is one of the earliest 

 songsters of spring, or rather its song announces the closing of winter. 

 It varies with the season, and with different individuals at the same 

 time, but is always animated and vigorous. 



In winter the Song Sparrow retires from the open country to sheltered 

 glades in woods, and shrubbery on the banks of streams and ditches. 



That this bird has a strong attachment to its nest, and also that it 

 possesses mental qualities akin to reason, was happily illustrated by a 

 pair of these birds observed by me in June, 1875. Their nest had 

 been built upon the ground, within a few feet of the track of the Lit- 

 tle Miami Railroad, about a mile west of this city. Some laborers, in 

 clearing away the undergrowth and cutting the grass along the track, 

 had discovered the nest and removed it, placing it very insecurely on a 

 fork of a horizontal limb of a maple sapling, about three feet from the 

 trunk. Instead of deserting the nest, as many birds would have done, 

 or attempting to secure it to the limb on which it was placed, the birds 

 gathered long stems of timothy grass and fastened them by twisting the 

 tops together and around a limb extending over the nest at a distance of 

 nearly one and a half feet. The lower ends of these stems were firmly 

 fastened into the rim of the nest, and other stems were knitted in trans- 

 versely, forming a pretty cpmplete basket work. The whole structure 



