176 SONG SPARROW. 
angle of the bill proceeds a slight streak of chestnut; sides, under the 
wings, pale brown; back, handsomely streaked with pale drab, bright 
bay, and black; lower part of the back and rump, brownish drab ; 
lesser wing-coverts, black, edged with pale ash; wings, black, broadly 
edged with bright bay; the first and second row of coverts, tipped with 
pure white ; tail, black, forked, and exteriorly edged with dull white ; 
belly and vent, brownish white ; bill, black above, yellow below; legs, 
a brownish clay color; feet, black. The female is about half an inch 
shorter; the chestnut or bright bay on the wings, back, and crown, is 
less brilliant ; and the white on the coverts narrower, and not so pure. 
These are all the differences I can perceive.* 
, 
SONG SPARROW.—FRINGILLA MELODIA.—Fic. 74. 
Fasciated, Finch? Arct. Zool. p. 375, No. 252. — Peale’s Museum, No. 6573. 
EMBERIZA?+ MELODIA. —Janvine. 
Bonap. Synop. p. 108. — The Song Sparrow, Aud. pl. 25, Orn. Biog. i. p. 126. 
So nearly do many species of our Sparrows approximate to each 
other in plumage, and so imperfectly have they been taken notice of, 
that it is absolutely impossible to say, with certainty, whether the 
present species has ever been described'or not. And yet, of all our 
Sparrows, this is the most numerous, the most generally diffused over 
the United States, and by far the earliest, sweetest, and most lasting 
songster. It may be said to be partially migratory, many passing to 
the south in the month of November; and many of them still remain- 
ing with us, in low, close, sheltered meadows and swamps, during the 
whole of winter. It is the first singing bird in spring, taking prece- 
dence even of the Pewee and Blue-Bird. Its song, continues occa- 
sionally during the whole summer and fall, and is sometimes heard 
even in the depth of winter. The notes, or chant, are short, but very 
sweet, resembling the beginning of the Canary’s song, and frequently 
repeated, generally from the branches of a bush or ‘small tree, where 
it sits chanting for an hour together. It is fond of frequenting the 
borders of rivers, meadows, swamps, and such like watery places; and, 
if wounded, and unable to fly, will readily take to the water, and swim 
with considerable rapidity. In the great cypress swamps of the 
Southern States, in the depth of winter, I observed multitudes of these 
birds mixed with several other species ; for these places appear to be 
the grand winter rendezvous of almost all our Sparrows. I have found 
* Peculiar to America, and we should say, going more off from the group than 
F. socialis, Wils., as mentioned by Swainson in the Northern Zoology. — Eb. 
t Ihave been puzzled where to place this bird —in Emberiza, or as a sub-genus 
of it, There seems much difference in the form of the bill, though it has “a rudi- 
ment of the knob.” I have been unable to obtain a specimen for comparison. 
Mr. Swainson thinks it connects the American Bunting suit his Zonotrichia. — Ep. 
