518 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
one of the few birds which, in that season, repeat the full chorus of the 
spring.” 
“Tt ee rears two broods, and possibly sometimes three, for nests 
with eggs are found as early as April 15, in the southern part of the state, 
and again in June and even in July. The earlier nests are commonly 
placed on the ground, perhaps because the scanty foliage at this time 
fails to hide the nest, but in regions where evergreens are abundant the 
early nests are frequently placed in these, and the later ones also. As a 
matter of fact nests are found on the ground, in bushes or brush heaps, 
and occasionally in orchard or shade trees even twenty feet from the ground. 
The nest is bulky and consists mainly of grasses and weed-stalks usually 
with a thick lining of horse hair. The eggs are three to six, extremely 
variable in ground color and markings, but always spotted with brown or 
black on a bluish, greenish or white background. They average .79 by 
.59 inches. 
Probably this species rears more Cowbirds than any other bird which 
we have; it is also one of those which not infrequently rears one or two 
of its own young in addition to a young Cowbird, a feat which is impossible 
for many of the smaller birds. 
The food of the Song Sparrow is very variable, but while it eats many 
seeds of weeds and grasses, living mainly on such seeds in winter, it consumes 
an immense number of insects, on which the young are almost entirely fed. 
It is rather fond of small wild fruits, and we have seen it take a bite from 
a cultivated cherry or strawberry, but this is by no means a common habit. 
Among the insects consumed are large numbers of span-worms, cut-worms 
and other lepidopterous larve, as well as vast numbers of grasshoppers 
and other injurious forms. On the whole, we have no common bird which 
is more uniformly beneficial to the agriculturist and which at the same 
time is so confiding and sweet-voiced. It is much to be regretted that it 
sufficiently resembles the English Sparrow in size and color to be mistaken 
by the careless for that bird, and undoubtedly thousands of these valuable 
and innocent birds have been killed for the bounty which Michigan has 
unwisely offered for so many years on the English Sparrow. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult (sexes alike): Top of head brown, streaked with deeper brown or blackish, and 
divided by a median stripe of light grayish which is very narrow on the forehead and much 
wider on the occiput; a similar ashy stripe over the eye, and most of the ear-coverts of 
the same color, the latter usually distinctly bordered with brown or blackish; chin and 
throat white or whitish, bordered on either side by a series of dark brown or blackish 
streaks, which in turn are separated from the ear-coverts by a light gray or whitish stripe; 
upper parts brownish gray, heavily streaked with dark brown or blacklist on the middle 
back and scapulars, and elsewhere with light brown; under parts white or buffy white, 
the breast and sides streaked and spotted with dark brown or blackish, the spots usually 
arrow-shaped, and commonly thickest in the middle of the breast where they form a more 
or less distinct spot; wings brownish, with little or no trace of bars, the secondaries reddish 
brown on their outer webs, the tertiaries mainly black, with broad chestnut or rufous 
margins which become white toward the tips; tail-feathers reddish-brown, the middle pair 
usually with blackish shaft-stripes, and indistinctly barred with dusky; bill brownish 
above, yellowish below; iris brown. Autumn specimens are browner or more buffy, especi- 
ally on chest and sides. Young birds are similar, but with all the colors more blended, 
the dark markings less sharply defined. 
Length 6 to 6.75 inches; wing 2.45 to 2.80; tail 2.58 to 3.02; culmen .50 to .54. 
