SONG SPARROW. 2 6o 



SONG SPAEROW. (Fringilla melodia.) 



PLATE XVI.- Fig. 4. 



Fasciated Finch? Arct. Zool. p. 375, No. 252.— Peale's Museum, No. 6573. 



EMBERIZA * MELODIA . — Jardine. 



Bonap. Synop. p. 108. — The Song Sparrow, Aud. pi. 25, Om. Biog. i. p. 126. 



So nearly do many species of our sparrows approximate to 

 each other in plumage, and so imperfectly have they been 

 taken notice of, that it is absolutely impossible to say, with 

 certainty, whether the present species has ever been described 

 or not. And yet, of all our sparrows, this is the most nume- 

 rous, the most generally diffused over the United States, and 

 by far the earliest, sweetest, and most lasting songster. It 

 may be said to be partially migratory, many passing to the 

 south in the month of November ; and many of them still re- 

 maining with us, in low, close, sheltered meadows and swamps, 

 during the whole of winter. It is the first singing bird in 

 spring, taking precedence even of the pewee and blue bird. 

 Its song continues occasionally during the whole summer and 

 fall, and is sometimes heard even in the depth of winter. The 

 notes or chant are short, but very sweet, resembling the be- 

 ginning of the canary's song, and frequently repeated, generally 

 from the branches of a bush or small tree, where it sits chant- 

 ing for an hour together. It is fond of frequenting the borders 

 of rivers, meadows, swamps, and such like watery places; and, 

 if wounded, and unable to fly, will readily take to the water, 

 and swim with considerable rapidity. In the great cypress 

 swamps of the southern States, in the depth of winter, I 



* I have been puzzled where to place this bird — in Eniberiza, or as a 

 subgenus of it. There seems much difference in the form of the bill, 

 though it has " a rudiment of the knob." I have been unable to obtain 

 a specimen for comparison. Mr Swainson thinks it connects the Ame- 

 rican buntinR with his Zonotrichia. — Ed. 



