200 THE SWAMP SPARROW. 



ing like tswee-tswee-tswee-tswee-tswee-tswee-tswee-tswee, quite sib- 

 ilant, the notes being essentially the same as those of the 

 Chipping Sparrow, only in much more prolonged and musi- 

 cal tones — a sort of enlarged and improved edition of it. 

 Its common chipping note, too, has something of a whistling 

 tone, rather than any hoarseness, such' as is sometimes 

 ascribed to it. 



Some 5.50 or upwards in length, the upper parts 

 are a rich reddish-brown, streaked with lighter and with 

 black; wings deeply edged with clear brown; chin and 

 belly white, tinged with ash; breast and sides washed with 

 brownish, resembling the Song Sparrow somewhat, but 

 smaller and less streaked, and without the spotted breast. 

 It is of a warmer and more uniform brown than any of the 

 rest of our Sparrows. 



The ordinary situation of the nest, according to the best 

 ornithologists, is on the ground, after the usual manner of 

 the Sparrows; but sometimes, especially if the ground is 

 wet, in a bush, or tussock of sedges. I think the latter is 

 the much more common situation of the nest. One 

 which I found in an open, wet marsh of Tonawanda 

 Swamp, on the 25th of May, was built into a thick tussock of 

 sedges and cat-tails, about a foot from the ground. It was 

 in the form of an inverted cone, some seven inches long, 

 made of coarse grasses and stubble, laid in rough angular 

 style, seeming to consist of several sections, the rim being 

 very uneven, with jwints sticking up in every direction, 

 reminding one of some rustic picket fence. It was lined 

 with dried grasses, which were a little finer than those used 

 in the outside. The eggs, four and sometimes five, about 

 .77 X-51 inch, are greenish-white, finely and thickly specked, 

 sometimes brushed with brown. 



I almost failed to identify the nest above referred to. 



