SONG SPARROW. 
Melospiza fasciata. 
Char. Back streaked with black, bay, and ash ; crown bay, streaked 
with black and with two stripes of ash; wings grayish brown edged with 
dull rufous ; tail grayish brown, with dark wavy cross-bars , below, white ; 
breast, sides of throat, and sides of body spotted with brown, the spots 
forming a “ patch ” on the breast. Length 6 to 614 inches. 
Nest. In a field or open pasture, amid a tuft of grass or under a low 
bush, sometimes fastened to bush or vine, occasionally placed in a cavity 
in a tree ; composed of twigs, grass, roots, and leaves, lined with grass 
and roots, or hair. 
^SS^- 3~7 (usually 4 or 5) ; dull white or with tint of green, blue, or 
pink, thickly marked with several shades of brown occasionally un- 
spotted ; o.So X 0.60. 
This familiar and almost domestic bird is one of the most 
common and numerous Sparrows in the United States ; it is 
also, with the Bluebird, which it seems to accompany, one 
of the two earliest, sweetest, and most enduring warblers. 
