278 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



163. Spizella monticola (Gmel.). 

 Tree Sparrow. 



Abundant transient visitor in spring and autumn and common winter resident. 



SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. 



October 20, 1892, two seen, Arlington, W. Faxon. 



October 25 — April 20. 

 May 7, 1893, two seen, East Lexington, W. Faxon. 



The first Tree Sparrows coming from the north in autumn appear soon after 

 the middle of October or about when the last Chipping Sparrows are preparing 

 to depart. The two species are so similar in general appearance as to be often 

 mistaken for one another, but the Tree Sparrow may be easily distinguished by 

 its longer tail and more conspicuous huffy white wing bars. Although a com- 

 mon winter resident of the Cambridge Region, it is invariably most abundant 

 when the migratory flights are passing southward in late autumn and returning to 

 their summer homes at the far North in early spring. On these occasions the 

 birds sometimes occur in very great numbers, especially about neglected fields 

 and gardens where they eat the seeds of such weeds as the chickory and the 

 Roman wormwood. In winter when the country is deeply covered with snow, 

 they resort to swampy runs and the borders of woodland, where they subsist 

 largely on the seeds of alders and birches. 



Tree Sparrows associate freely in spring with Fox Sparrows, Song Sparrows 

 and Juncos. When all four birds are assembled in numbers about some weedy 

 field, with Bluebirds, Redwings, and perhaps, also, Meadowlarks, near at hand, 

 the scene presented is one of great animation and exceeding interest. He who 

 lingers to watch and enjoy it will be treated, at least in the early morning, to 

 frequent outbursts of singing so rare and tender in quality that he is not likely 

 ever to forget them. Of the voices which unite to form these delightful concerts 

 of earliest spring that of the Tree Sparrow is among the sweetest and best. 



I used to see Tree Sparrows rather frequently in our garden, but within the 

 past fifteen years they have nearly ceased to visit the older settled parts of Cam- 

 bridge, although they still occur very commonly in the Fresh Pond Swamps. 

 Further to the westward, in Belmont, Arlington and Waltham, they reappear, 

 season after season, in undiminished numbers, wherever the English Sparrows 

 do not monopolize the annual supply of weed seeds. 



