Birds of Indiana. 961 



*221. (463). Spizella pusiUa (Wils.). 



Field Sparrow. 



Adult. — Bill, light reddish-brown; crown, rufous, faintly marked 

 with grayish; line over the eye, nape and sides of head, grayish, 

 the latter tinged with ashy; faint rufous streaJi behind the eye; back, 

 rufous, feathers with black centers and ashy edgings; wings crossed 

 by two whitish bars; rump, brownish-ashy. Below, white, unmarked, 

 but washed with pale brown on breast and sides. Young. — First 

 plumage streaked below. 



Length, 5.10-6.00; wing, 2.45-2.70; tail, 2.50-2.80. 



Range. — Eastern North America, from Gulf States and Texas, 

 north to Manitoba and Quebec. Breeds from South Carolina and 

 Kentucky, north. Winters from southern Illinois, southern Indiana 

 and Virginia, southward. 



Nest, on ground or in low bush; of rootlets and grass, and lined 

 with hair or fine grass. Hggs, 3-5; greenish- white, variously marked 

 with rufous; .68 by .51. 



The Field Sparrow is much more numerous than the Chipping 

 Sparrow, but is not such a social bird. It is not found about our 

 homes as closely as the "Chippy," but keeps a little farther away. In 

 the back orehaid, in old fields and pastures, especially if more or 

 less overgrown by bushes, it makes its home. 



Occasionally, at least, it winters in the Wabash Valley, from Knox 

 County, southward. Prof. J. A. Balmer reported it wintering at Vin- 

 eennes the winter of 1887-8. Elsewhere it is a common summer 

 resident, arriving, some years, very early and remaining quite late. 

 The earliest and latest date at which it has been first seen at the 

 following places is given: Brookville, February 25, 1892, April 12, 

 1894; Spearsville, March 9, 1897; Lafayette, March 28, 1897, April 

 10, 1895; Sedan, March 30, 1897, April 6, 1894; Laporte, April 12, 

 1896, April 13, 1894; Chicago, 111., April 3, 1886, April 17, 1897; 

 Petersburg, Mich., April 5, 1893, April 26, 1897. 



Late in March it adds to soft pastures, and greening grass the 

 charm of a delightful song. Its voice is clear and its song distinct 

 and far reaching, as well as sweet and plaintive. There is no bird in 

 the old pastures that can equal it, as from fence or bush or old weed 

 stalk it carols to the wind a song that is borne to a surprisingly long 

 distance. I have been upon a hill over a hundred feet above a Field 

 Sparrow that was singing five hundred feet away, and the wind, 

 coming my way, brought to me distinctly, but faintly, its April 



61— Geol. 



