116 
SWAMP SPARROW. 
head ; this is bordered on each side with a stripe of black ; below this 
again is another of white passing over each eye, and deepening into 
orange yellow between that and the nostril ; this is again bordered by a 
stripe of black proceeding from the hind part of the eye ; breast ash ; 
chin, belly, and vent white ; tail somewhat wedged ; legs flesh colored ; 
bill a bluish horn color ; eye hazel. In the female the white stripe on the 
crown is a light drab ; the breast not so dark ; the chin less pure ; and 
the line of yellow before the eye scarce half as long as in the male. 
All the parts that are white in the male are in the female of a light 
drab color. 
Species X. FRINGILLA PALUSTRIS. 
SWAMP SPARROW. 
[Plate XXII. Fig. 1.] 
Passer palustris, Bartram, p. 291. 
The history of this obscure and humble species is short and un- 
interesting. Unknown or overlooked by the naturalists of Europe, it 
is now for the first time introduced to the notice of the world. It is 
one of our summer visitants, arriving in Pennsylvania early in April, 
frequenting low grounds, and river courses ; rearing two, and sometimes 
three broods in a season ; and returning 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 other species of Sparrow that remain with us during 
summer. 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, seem- 
ing shy and timorous, and more attached to the water than any other 
of their tribe. In the month of April numbers pass through Pennsyl- 
vania 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 borders 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 fifteenth of August, I have seen 
them feeding their young that were scarcely able to fly. Their prin- 
