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SWAMP SPARROW. 
Jy able to fly. Their principal food is grass seeds, wild oats, 
and insects. They have no song; are distinguished by a single 
chip or cheep, uttered in a rather hoarser tone than that of the 
Song Sparrow; flirt the tail as they fly; seldom or never take to 
the trees, but skulk from one low bush or swampy thicket to 
another. 
The Swamp Sparrow is five inches and a half long, and seven 
inches and a half in extent; the back of the neck and front are 
black; crown bright bay, bordered with black; a spot of yellow- 
ish white between the eye and nostril; sides of the neck and 
whole breast dark ash; chin white; a streak of black proceeds 
from the lower mandible, and another from the posterior angle 
of the eye; back black, slightly skirted with bay; greater coverts 
also black, edged with bay; wings and tail plain brown; belly 
and vent brownish white; bill dusky above, bluish below; eyes 
hazel; legs brown; claws strong and sharp for climbing the reeds. 
The female wants the bay on the crown, or has it indistinctly; 
over the eye is a line of dull white. 
