124 
The Song Sparrow 
Spring 
Song 
he has spent the winter in exploring, and pours forth a rapturous wel- 
come to the couriers of summer. Then, through all the spring days, 
whether they be shady or sunny, from early morning till long after sunset, 
are heard the sweet and cheery cadences of his song, trilled out over and 
over again, like a Canary’s. 
“He starts off with a few low, rattling notes, makes a quick leap 
to a high strain, ascends through many a melodious 
variation to the key-note, and suddenly stops, leaving 
his song to sing itself through in your brain. To 
amplify another’s quaint illustration, it is as if he said Press-press-FRESS, 
BY-TEEEE-RiAN-ian ! His clear tenor, the gurgling, bubbling alto of 
the Blackbirds, the slender purity of the Bluebird’s soprano, and the solid 
bass-profundo of the frogs, with the accompaniment of the April wind 
piping on the bare reeds of winter, or the drumming of rain-drops, form 
the naturalist’s spring quartette — as pleasing, if not as grand, as the full 
chorus of early June.” 
“Last season,” writes John Burroughs, “the whole summer through, 
one sang about my grounds like this: Swee-e-t, swee-e-t, sweet , bitter. 
Day after day, from May to September, I heard this strain, which I 
thought a simple but very profound summing-up of life, and wondered 
where the little bird had learned it so quickly.” 
These birds, in common with most other small species of our 
feathered neighbors, are very fond of insects and their larvae, and in 
the spring and summer Song Sparrows are of great service to mankind 
by destroying these pests of the garden. They eat berries and small 
fruit, but to a limited extent only, wild varieties usually being chosen. 
After the insects had gone, or even before that time, 
these sparrows become very busy eating grass and 
weed-seeds, and in the South, where they spend the 
winter months, seeds make the principal part of their diet. 
“If you wish to have Song Sparrows about the house,” Mabel Osgood 
Wright warns us, “remember that there is no greater lure for them 
than water. It may be that constant bathing is one of the secrets of 
their good health, for certain it is that they are free from many of the 
epidemics that destroy so many birds.” 
When trying to make sure that a sparrow seen is really a Song 
Sparrow, look for a spotted throat and breast with one spot in the very 
center of the breast decidedly larger than all the others. 
Classification and Distribution 
Insects 
end Weed-seeds 
The Song Sparrow belongs to the Order Passeres, Suborder Oscines, and 
Family Fringillida. Its scientific name is Melospiza melodia, applied properly 
only to the typical subspecies found everywhere east of the Rocky Mountains. The 
Song Sparrows of the Pacific Slope have been modified by climatic differences into 
many local races, as indicated in the illustration on page 122. It is migratory, as 
a species, only in the northern half of its range. 
This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 5 cents each, by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 
