160 SWAMP SPARROW. 



Samuel's Song Sparrow, M. fasciata samuelis Ridgw., is distributed over the coast 

 region of California. Wherever there are salt marshes near the coast, this variety is 

 sure to occur, being especially common near San Francisco. The nest is usually placed 

 on the ground beneath tussocks of grass and sometimes in low shrubs growing on old 

 sand drifts. Mr. Walter E. Bryant records a nest that has been found by Mr. Otto 

 Emerson in an old oyster can, which had lodged sideways among some driftwood, in a 

 willow. This variety is smaller than the foregoing. 



Desert Song Sparrow, Melospiza fasciata fallax Henshaw. This form inhabits 

 our southern border of New Mexico and Arizona, occurring in the willow thickets and 

 marsh grass near water. In its habits and nesting it closely resembles the Eastern 

 Song Sparrow. It is smaller and the general tone of coloration is more rusty than in 

 the type. 



The Rusty Song Sparrow, M. fasciata guttata Ridgw., inhabits the Pacific coast 

 districts, breeding from western Oregon north to British Columbia. The markings of 

 the plumage are more or less obscured by the prevalent dull rusty or sooty coloring. 



The Sooty Song Sparrow, M. fasciata ruRna Ridgw., seems to be restricted to the 

 coast of southern Alaska. 



Aleutian Song Sparrow, Melospiza cinerea Ridgw., is an inhabitant of the Aleu- 

 tian Islands, and east to Fort Kenai, Alaska. 



SWAMP SPARROW, 



Melospiza georgiana Ridgway. 



"pF WE desire to become acquainted with the Swamp Sparrow, a bird as rich in 

 ^ song as it is shy and retired in its habits, we have to explore its marshy retreats 

 covered with a varied and rank vegetation in low meadows, pastures, and swamps. 

 Such localities are almost everywhere abundant in the northern portions of our country. 

 My native State Wisconsin, more especially Sheboygan County, is very rich in moist 

 lowlands, marshy lakes, and dense swamps. Though avoided by most people, such 

 localities are highly interesting and instructive to the student of plant and animal life. 

 I shall here refer to a locality where I spent my boyhood. The hilly country at that 

 time was mostly covered with a dense forest of white pines. There were many swamps 

 surrounded by thickets. Under the trees near by the club moss flourished and the winter- 

 green grew in dense patches. The small lake near my home, surrounded at some distance 

 by forest-clad hills, had marshy shores covered densely with thickets and sedges. Its 

 outlet meandered through low marshy land. The soil near the lake and just where the 

 outlet began was very oozy, waving up and down under one's footsteps. A cool 

 spring gushing forth from the foot of the hill south of the lake, showed a rusty-colored 

 sediment indicating its iron properties. Near it grew birches, ashes, and elms, while the 

 top of the hill was crested with magnificent white pines. On the edge of the lake near 



