SWAMP SPARROW. 221 
now, for the first time, introduced to the notice of the world. It is 
one of our summer visitants, arriving-in Pennsylvania early in April, 
frequénting low grounds and river courses; rearing two, and some- 
times three, broods in a season; and returning to the south as the cold 
weather commences. The immense cypress swamps and. extensive 
grassy flats of the Southern States, that border their numerous rivers, 
and the rich rice plantations, abounding with their favorite seeds and 
sustenance, appear to be the general winter resort, and grand annual 
rendezvous, of this and all the other species of Sparrow that remain 
with us during summer. From the River Trent in North Carolina, to 
that of Savannah, and still farther south, I found this species very 
numerous ; not flying in flocks, but skulking among the canes, reeds, 
and grass, seeming shy and timorous, and more attached to the water 
than any other of their tribe. Inthe month of April, numbers pass 
through Pennsylvania to the northward, which I conjecture from the 
circumstance of finding them at that season in particular parts of the 
woods, where, during the rest of the year, they are not to be seen. 
The few that remain frequent the swamps and reedy borders of our 
creeks and rivers. They form their nest in the ground, sometimes in 
a tussock of rank grass, surrounded by water, and lay four eggs, of a 
dirty white, spotted with rufous. So late asthe 15th of August, 1 
have seen them feeding their young that were scarcely able to fly. 
Their principal food is grass seeds, wild oats, and insects. They have 
no song; are distinguished by a single chip or cheep, uttered ina 
rather hoarser tone than that of the Song Sourrors flirt the tail as 
they fly; seldom or never take to the trees, but skulk from one low 
bush or swampy thicket to another. 
The Swamp Sparrow is five inches and a half long, and seven 
inches and a half in extent; the back of the neck and front are black; 
crown, bright bay, bordered with black; a spot of yellowish white 
between the eye and nostril; sides of the neck and whole breast, dark 
ash; chin, white; a streak of black proceeds from the lower mandi- 
ble, and another from the posterior angle of the eye; back, black, 
slightly skirted with bay ; greater coverts also black, edged with bay; 
wings and tail, plain brown; belly and vent, brownish white ; bill, 
dusky above, bluish below; eyes, hazle; legs, brown; claws, strong 
and sharp, for climbing the reeds. The female wants the bay on the 
crown, or has it indistinctly ; over the eye is a line of dull white. 
the last will recede from the type, the one in the more slender, the other in the 
stronger bill, and its even, cutting margins. They in every respect show a strong 
assimilation with the Bunting, Sparrow, and Lark family, though they cannot 
poe rank with these. According to the characters now laid down, and I be. 
lieve properly so, they are a most interesting form when taken in cor parison with 
their i ania an other countries. They appear confined to America. —Ep. 
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