Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 
Swamp Song Sparrow 
(Melospiza georgiana) Finch family 
Called also: SWAMP SPARROW; MARSH SPARROW; RED 
GRASS-BIRD; SWAMP FINCH 
Length—s to 5.8 inches. A little smaller than the English spar- 
row. 
Male—Forehead black; crown, which in winter has black stripes, 
is a bright bay; line over the eye, sides of the neck 
gray. Back brown, striped with various shades. Wing- 
edges and tail reddish brown. Mottled gray underneath, 
inclining to white on the chin. 
Female—Without black forehead and stripes on head. 
Range—North America, from Texas to Labrador. 
Migrations—April. October. A few winter at the north. 
In just such impenetrable retreats as the marsh wrens choose, 
another wee brown bird may sometimes be seen springing up 
from among the sedges, singing a few sweet notes as it flies and 
floats above them, and then suddenly disappearing into the 
grassy tangle. It is too small, and its breast is not streaked 
enough to be a song sparrow, neither are their songs alike; it has 
not the wren’s peculiarities of bill and tail. Its bright-bay crown 
and sparrowy markings finally identify it. A suggestion of the 
bird’s watery home shows itself in the liquid quality of its simple, 
sweet note, stronger and sweeter than the chippy’s, and repeated 
many times almost like a trill that seems to trickle from the 
marsh in a little rivulet of song. The sweetness is apt to become 
monotonous to all but the bird itself, that takes evident delight in 
its performance. In the spring, when flocks of swamp sparrows 
come north, how they enliven the marshes and waste places ! 
And yet the song, simple as it is, is evidently not uttered alto- 
gether without effort, if the tail-spreading and teetering of the 
body after the manner of the ovenbird, are any indications of 
exertion. 
Nuttall says of these birds: ‘‘ They thread their devious way 
with the same alacrity as the rail, with whom, indeed, they are 
often associated in neighborhood. In consequence of this perpet- 
ual brushing through sedge and bushes, their feathers are fre- 
quently so worn that their tails appear almost like those of rats.” 
160 
