Plate XVI. 
SPIZELLA PUSILLA— Field Sparrow. 
Tlie Field Sparrow arrives from the South about the last of March. As soon as warm weather 
fairly commences they begin the duties of home and housekeeping, usually rearing two and often three 
broods. In October the majority depart for a more congenial latitude. Some remain until November, 
and perhaps a few may even endure our winter, as Mr. F. W. Langdon reports a specimen taken the 
fifteenth of December, 1879, near Madisonville. 
LOCALITY: 
Contrary to what the name indicates, this species frequents during the nesting season upland woods. 
The nest either. is placed in the bushes, or upon the ground in a tussock or at the root of a bush in a 
thicket; occasionally they build in the briers along the roadside, or upon the ground in a pasture; but 
nearly always the birds confine themselves to the outskirts of woods with thick undergrowth of hazel, 
wild roses, briers, and other shrubs common to the State, and seldom go more than a few hundred 
yards in the interior. 
POSITION : 
The nests seem to be about equally divided between the ground and the bushes. When in the 
former position, a little depression is chosen, and the structure is neatly fitted into it with the rim about 
level with the surrounding earth. When in the latter position, it is placed in any arrangement of twigs 
that will support it; it is not built about and cabled to them as is the nest of the Summer Warbler, 
but it is simply loosely arranged upon the stems, or Avedged in among them so that it AA r ill not topple 
over, and nearly always it can be lifted out Avithout tearing it in the least. It is seldom if ever over 
five feet from the ground, and commonly is Avithin Iavo or three. 
MATERIALS : 
The foundation of the nest consists of Aveed-stems from a twentieth to a twelfth of an inch in 
diameter, to Avhich is frequently added blue-grass, roller-grass, fine fibres or rootlets. The superstructure 
is composed of a feAv fine weed-stalks, split grasses, roller-grass, and fine rootlets or tendrils. The lining 
is nearly always of black horse-hair, neatly and often quite thickly coiled against the superstructure. 
Thirteen nests before me are all lined AA r ith black horse-hair except tAA r o; in one of these the hair is 
Ayhite, the other is lined with split grasses. Some nests are lined Avith grasses and hair combined, and 
occasionally cow-hair is used. The materials and general appearance of the nest, whether placed upon 
the ground or in a bush, are quite uniform. The arrangement of the exterior is always loose; one side 
of the foundation near the rim usually contains more Aveed-stems than the other; this gives an easy, 
often careless air to the structure. The external diameter A r aries from three to four inches ; tlie average 
is about three and one-half inches. The depth is between two, and three and one-fourth inches; average 
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