242 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
Hon. M. S. Quay, of Beaver county, the law was so amended that the 
killing- of Eng-lish Sparrows, and the destroying- of their nests, egg-s or 
young at all seasons of the year is now legalized. 
Genus MELOSPIZA Baird. 
Melospiza fasciata (Gmel.). 
Song Sparrow ; Ground Chippy. 
Description (PZaCe m Fig. 4 ). 
Length about 6^ inches ; extent about 8| ; bill, legs and feet brownish ; lower 
mandible paler at base ; general color of upper parts brownish streaked with black- 
ish, grayish and different shades of brown ; crown dull brownish with an indistinct 
grayish line in middle; a whitish line over eye from bill to occiput ; below white 
or whitish with numerous conspicuous dark-brown streaks on breast, fore-neck and 
sides ; a showy black spot in middle of breast. The young are very similar to 
adults but colors duller, more blended and lower parts are more yellowish and the 
streaks are much less in size. 
Habitat . — Eastern United States to the plains, breeding from Virginia and the 
northern portion of the Lake States northward. 
Common resident, but never seen in large flocks. Frequents in the 
summer, fence-rows, shrubbery in swamps, fields and gardens. Although 
this species is found during the summer about bushy, briery and weed- 
grown places along streams, ponds, ditches, etc., it is most abundant in 
these last named localities during the winter. The appellation Song 
Sparrow is given because it is one of our most pleasing songsters. In 
the dreary winter months the melodious voice of this little minstrel is 
about the only bird melody one is apt to hear. The nest, composed 
chiefly of grasses, leaves, weeds, etc., lined with fine grasses and weeds, 
is built on the ground or in a low bush. The eggs, mostly five, vary 
greatly both in size and markings ; they are greenish or dull bluish- 
white, variously spotted with different shades of brown, and measure 
about .82 by .60 of an inch. Two, and sometimes three, broods are 
raised in a season. During the breeding season this species feeds to a 
rpore or less extent on different forms of insects; at other times they 
subsist principally on the seeds of grasses, weeds, etc. 
Melospiza lincolni (Aud.). 
Lincoln’s Sparrow. 
Description. 
A little smaller than the Song Sparrow ; top of head brown, sharply streaked with 
black, and divided in middle by a grayish stripe ; grayish lines from maxilla over 
eyes to occiput; above grayish-olive, rather thickly and sharply streaked with 
black ; belly white and unmarked ; a broad band across breast, and also sides in 
some specimens buff or ^’■ellowish with numerous small lengthened streaks of black ; 
tail feathers brownish with blackish shafts. 
Habitat . — North America at large, breeding chiefly north of the United States 
and in the higher parts of the Rocky mountains ; south in winter to Guatemala. 
