246 BIRDS OP ALABAMA 



The song is rendered in great variety — in fact, one scarcely 

 ever hears two songs exactly alike from this species. It usual- 

 ly opens with three loud, resonant tones, often bell-like, some- 

 time§ double tones on the same pitch, followed by a somewhat 

 confused warble, and ending with one or more single resonant 

 notes or a trill. Although so endlessly varied, it has a charac- 

 teristic quality easily recognized. 



Food habits. — The food of this sparrow, as indicated by 

 examination of over 400 stomachs, consists of 34 per cent ani- 

 mal matter, insects with occasionally a spider or snail; and 

 66 per cent vegetable matter, mostly seeds. Judd says of this 

 bird's food : 



Insects amount to about one-third of the annual diet, and from 

 May to August, inclusive, when they are eaten most freely, 

 compose more than half of the food. * * * 



Of the vegetable portion * * * of the year's food, 3 per cent 

 consists of ragweed, 5 per cent of grain, 16 per cent of polygo- 

 num [bindweed] and related seeds, 24 per cent of g^i'ass seed, 

 and 18 per cent of miscellaneous seeds, such as those of wild 

 sunflower, amaranth, lamb's-quarters, clover, gromwell, rib- 

 grr&ss, wild solanum [nightshade] purslane, spurge, wood sor- 

 rel, dandelion, chickweed, dock, and sheep-sorrel.* 



LINCOLN SPARROW: Melospiza lincolrdi lincohdi 

 (Audubon) . 



State records. — In southeastern United States the Lincoln 

 sparrow occurs only as a migrant, and in Alabama there is 

 but one record — ^that of a bird which I saw at Florence, May 

 4, 1912. This was closely observed through a field glass, but 

 was not secured. Andrew Allison found the species not un- 

 common in spring migration in Tishomingo County, Missis- 

 sippi, between April 23 and May 15, 1904.t 



General habits. — The Lincoln sparrow much resembles the 

 song sparrow in appearance and habits. 



SWAMP SPARROW: Melospiza georgiana (Latham). 



State records. — The swamp sparrow is a common winter 

 resident throughout the State. Avery records it common at 

 Greensboro, where he has observed it between October 25 and 



*Judd, S. D., Biol. Surv. Bull. 15, pp. 83-84, 1901. 

 tAUison, A., The Auk, vol. 24, p. 21, 1907. 



