1X0 SWAMP SPARROW. 



Second, third, and fourth quills longest, first and fifth equal; tail graduated. 

 Upper part of the head with a central bluish-grey streak, deep brown at the 

 sides, with the feathers black in the centre; hind neck dull grey, tinged with 

 brown; back brown, tinged with grey, some of the feathers marked with 

 black and edged with greyish-white; quills dusky brown, edged with red- 

 dish-brown, the secondary and smaller coverts with their outer webs chiefly 

 of the latter colour; tail-feathers dusky brown, margined with greyish-olive; 

 a broad band of light yellowish-red from the base of the upper mandible 

 over the eye, and extending beyond the middle of the neck, where it is 

 broader; ear-coverts grey; a broad band of yellowish-red from the lower 

 mandible down the neck; throat whitish, with a line of dusky streaks on 

 each side; the lower part of the neck, a portion of the breast, the lower tail- 

 coverts, and the sides, pale yellowish-red, streaked with dusky; the rest of 

 the lower parts white. 



Male, 5, 1{. 



SWAMP SPARROW. 



Ammodramtts palustris, Wils. 

 PLATE CLXXV.— Male. 



The shores and such flat sand-bars as are overgrown with grasses and rank 

 weeds, along the Mississippi, from its mouth to a great height, as well as the 

 swamps that occur in the woods, within a short distance from the margins of 

 that river, are the resorts of the Swamp Sparrow, during autumn and winter. 

 Although these birds do not congregate in flocks, their numbers are immense. 

 They form the principal food of the many Sparrow Hawks, Pigeon Hawks, 

 and Hen-harriers, which follow them as well as several other species, on 

 their return from the Middle Districts, where they go towards spring, for 

 the purpose of breeding. In those districts they continue to prefer low 

 swampy places, damp meadows, and the margins of creeks and rivers. 



It is a timid species, destitute of song, and merely uttering a single cheep, 

 which is now and then heard during the day, but more frequently towards 

 evening. They skulk along the weeds with activity, and feed principally 

 upon the seeds of grasses, with a few insects, sometimes wading in shallow 



