Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 



This bird deliglits in the company of the dull-colored seaside 

 sparrow, whose haunts in the salt marshes it frequents, especially 

 the drier parts ; but its pointed tail-quills and more distinct mark- 

 ings are sufficient to prevent confusion. Mr. J. Dwight, Jr., who 

 has made a special study of maritime birds, says of it: "It runs 

 about among the reeds and grasses with the celerity of a mouse, 

 and it is not apt to take wing unless closely pressed." (Wilson 

 credited it with the nimbleness of a sandpiper.) "It builds its 

 nest in the tussocks on the bank of a ditch, or in the drift left by 

 the tide, rather than in the grassier sites chosen by its neighbors, 

 the seaside sparrows." 



Only rarely does one get a glimpse of this shy little bird, 

 that darts out of sight like a flash at the first approach. Balancing 

 on a cat-tail stalk or perched upon a bit of driftwood, it makes a 

 feeble, husky attempt to sing a few notes ; and during the brief 

 performance the opera-glasses may search it out successfully. 

 While it feeds upon the bits of sea-food washed ashore to the 

 edge of the marshes, it gives us perhaps the best chance we ever 

 get, outside of a museum, to study the bird's characteristics of 

 plumage. 



"Both the sharp-tailed and the seaside finches are crepus- 

 cular," says Dr. Abbott, in "The Birds About Us." They run 

 up and down the reeds and on the water's edge long after most 

 birds have gone to sleep. 



Song Sparrow 



(Melospi^a fasdata) Finch family 



Length — 6 to 6.5 inches. About the same size as the English 

 sparrow. 



Male and Female — Brown head, with three longitudinal gray bands. 

 Brown stripe on sides of throat. Brownish-gray back, 

 streaked with rufous. Underneath gray, shading to white, 

 heavily streaked with darkest brown. A black spot on 

 breast. Wings without bars. Tail plain grayish brown. 



Range — North America, from Fur Countries to the Gulf States. 

 Winters from southern Illinois and Massachusetts to the Gulf. 



Migrations — March. November. A few birds remain at the 

 north all the year. 



Here is a veritable bird neighbor, if ever there was one ; at 

 home in our gardens and hedges, not often farther away than the 



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