156 SONG SPARROW. 



with longitude of one geographical race, since in the Atlantic States it breeds abun- 

 dantly, as far south at least as the parallel of 30°, and is besides one of the most 

 familiar of the native birds." 



In New England and in the Northern States, from northern' Illinois northward, 

 the Song Sparrow is one of our best known and the most common of birds. Although 

 plainly colored, it is one of our most beloved and popular songsters, being longingly ex- 

 pected as one of the real harbingers of spring by old and young. Its familiarity and 

 confidence, its early arrival and especially its simple cheery strains combine to make it 

 a favorite to everybody who loves Nature. In the northern part of our country we can 

 hardly pass a garden replete with evergreens and dense ornamental shrubs without 

 observing at least one pair. I found it particularly abundant all over "Wisconsin and 

 northern Illinois during the breeding season. Thickets of roses, dense wild gooseberry 

 bushes', spiraeas, mock-oranges, bush honey-suckles, and also red cedars and junipers are 

 its favorite nesting places. In the East, from Massachusetts southward to Delaware, 

 the peat-loving plants, such as rhododendrons, azaleas, andromedas, and kalmias are 

 often planted in dense masses. These beds, especially a collection of the gorgeous 

 evergreen rhododendrons, are exquisitely beautiful when in flower and very attractive 

 throughout the year. In, soils containing lime they do not thrive, while in northern 

 Illinois and Wisconsin the winters are too severe for them. These shrubs are always 

 planted close together, soon forming dense thickets of leaves and foHage. Many of the 

 small garden birds, like Chipping Sparrows, Indigo Buntings, Catbirds, Yellow Warblers, 

 and Song Sparrows find a safe retreat and excellent nesting places in them. 



The Song Sparrow, however, is not confined to the ornamental shrubs of the 

 gardens. It is almost equally common in low grounds near brooks, in moist meadows 

 and pasture lands and on the edge of swamps, where dense shrubbery affords it a safe 

 retreat in danger and a good nesting site. On our old farm in Wisconsin this bird was 

 very numerous in the low meadows on the small lake in the days of my boyhood. 

 It was one of the first birds whose nest I found and to whose call-notes and song I 

 listened. 



In meadows and in other moist situations the nest is mostly built on the ground 

 near a tussock of grass or a shrub, but near the habitations of man experience has 

 taught the bird that it is safer to build its domicile in bushes. Sometimes nests have been 

 found in hollows of apple and other trees and on branches six to eight feet from the 

 ground. All the nests I have seen were placed in bushes one to three feet high or on 

 the gi-ound. Nests have also been found by the side of a railroad track where the trains 

 were continually passing. Like the Chippy the Song Sparrow frequently builds in dense 

 twining yellow and trumpet honey-suckles S and even in dense clematis and wild grape- 

 vines, which grow on verandas or cover arbors and garden walks. In the fields the 

 nest is not infrequently placed under a bunch of clover or a growing com stalk. 

 Whether built on the ground or in bushes, the nest is always well made. The foundation 

 consists of stout stems of grasses and rootlets; then the nest proper follows, being 

 constructed of long slender grasses and sometimes hair. As the old birds hop around 

 with great uneasiness and are lamenting incessantly when an intruder cqoiq? ne^r the 



1 Lonieern fiavn anci I,, sempervina^. 



