49 



SWAMP SPARROW. 

 FlilNGILLA PALUSTEIS. 

 [Plate XXIL— Fig. 1.] 



Passer paiustris, Bartram, p, 291.— Peale's Museum, jYo. 6569. 



THE history of this obscure and humble species is short and 

 uninteresting. Unknown or overlooked by the naturalists of Eu- 

 rope it is now for the first time introduced to the notice of the 

 world. It is one of our summer visitants, arriving in Pennsylva- 

 nia early in April, frequenting low grounds, and river courses; 

 rearing two, and sometimes three brood in a season; and return- 

 ing to the south as the cold weather commences. The immense 

 cypress swamps and extensive grassy flats of the southern states, 

 that border their numerous rivers, and the rich rice plantations 

 abounding with their favorite seeds and sustenance, appear to be 

 the general winter resort, and grand annual rendezvous, of this and 

 all the other species of Sparrow that remain with us during sum- 

 mer. From the river Trent in North Carolina, to that of Savan- 

 nah, and still farther south, I found this species very numerous ; 

 not flying in flocks, but skulking among the canes, reeds, and grass, 

 seeming shy and timorous, and more attached to the water than 

 any other of their tribe. In the month of April numbers pass 

 through Pennsylvania to the northward, which I conjecture from 

 the circumstance of finding them at that season in particular parts 

 of the woods, where during the rest of the year they are not to be 

 seen. The few that remain frequent the swamps, and reedy bor- 

 ders of our creeks and rivers. They form their nest in the ground, 

 sometimes in a tussock of rank grass, surrounded by water, and 

 lay four eggs of a dirty white, spotted with rufous. So late as the 



VOL. III. N 



