266 FIELD SPARROW. 



nest on the ground, generally at the foot of a brier ; lines it 

 with horse hair ; lays six eggs, so thickly sprinkled with 

 ferruginous, as to appear altogether of that tint ; and raises 

 two, and often three, broods in a season. It is more frequently 

 found in the middle of fields and orchards than any of the other 

 species, which usually lurk along hedgerows. It has no song, 

 but a kind of chirruping, not much different from the chirpings 

 of a cricket. Towards fall, they assemble in loose flocks, in 

 orchards and cornfields, in search of the seeds of various rank 

 weeds, and are then very numerous. As the weather becomes 

 severe, with deep snow, they disappear. In the lower parts 

 of North and South Carolina, I found this species in multi- 

 tudes in the months of January and February. When dis- 

 turbed, they take to the bushes, clustering so close together, 

 that a dozen may easily be shot at a time. I continued to 

 see them equally numerous through the whole lower parts of 

 Georgia, from whence, according to Mr Abbot, they all dis- 

 appear early in the spring. 



None of our birds have been more imperfectly described 

 than that family of the finch tribe usually called sparrows. 

 They have been considered as too insignificant for particular 

 notice, yet they possess distinct characters, and some of them 

 peculiarities, well worthy of notice. They are innocent in 

 their habits, subsisting chiefly on the small seeds of wild 

 plants, and seldom injuring the property of the farmer. In 

 the dreary season of winter, some of them enliven the prospect 

 by hopping familiarly about our doors, humble pensioners on 

 the sweepings of the threshold. 



The present species has never before, to my knowledge, 

 been figured. It is five inches and a quarter long, and eight 

 inches broad ; bill and legs, a reddish cinnamon colour ; upper 



schceniculus. Another, mentioned neither by Wilson nor Bonaparte, has 

 been added by the Overland Expedition, — Emberiza pallida, clay coloured 

 bunting, Sw. and Richard., North. Zool. It approaches nearest to E, 

 socialis, but differs in wanting the bright rufous crown, and having the 

 ear-feathers brown, margined above and below with a dark edge.— Ed. 



