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Field Marks. Sharply striped breast and central spot. The absence of the white 
outertail feathers will guard against confusion with the Vesper Sparrow, and longer tail, 
lack of yellow lores, voice, and general attitude distinguish the Song Sparrow from the 
Savannah. The song is very distinctive, especially in its opening, which always consists 
of a single distinct note repeated at least once, and has been humorously interpreted as 
“Pres-pres-pres byleri-eri-erian . ’ ’ The first part of this rendition is very good. The latter 
part of the song is too variable to be rendered by any single set of syllables. 
Nesting. On the ground, more rarely in bushes, in nest of coarse grasses, rootlets, 
dead leaves, strips of bark, etc., lined with finer grasses and sometimes long hairs. 
Distribution. The Song Sparrow inhabits all America to the tree limits. 
SUBSPECIES. The Song Sparrow shows a wonderful adaptability to various con- 
ditions. Scarcely any large area in North America but has Song Sparrows that have 
become specially modified to agree with regional conditions. Some of these specialized 
forms are well marked and easily recognizable, but others differ so slightly as to tax dis- 
crimination to the utmost. The arid deserts of the southwest have their small, pale forms 
and the humid coast has produced a number of very large, dark ones, culminating in the 
comparatively gigantic race of the damp Aleutian islands. Especially have a great number 
of geographical races been produced in the broken country adjoining the west coast of 
America. In the east, physical and climatic conditions are more uniform and these has 
been less tendency to subspecific division in the species. West of the Great Lakes to the 
coast, the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list ascribes four breeding subspecies 
and a number of more migrant ones. The Eastern Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia melodia 
extends west to eastern Manitoba and probably northward through the wooded regions to 
northern Alberta and Great Slave lake. The Dakota Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia 
juddi is the form of southern Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. It is barely dist- 
inguishable from the Eastern Song Sparrow, though averaging slightly fighter, with 
clearer and sharper markings. According to the latest study of the species most of British 
Columbia is occupied by the Rusty Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia morphna. This is 
the first of a senes of Song Sparrows strikingly different from the two fight eastern 
races. They are very dark and saturated in colour, enough so that if they did not 
intergrade through various southern races, they mignt well be regarded as a well-defined 
species. Of these dark races, morphna averages ruddy in the brown tones, especial] y on 
the back. The Sooty Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia mfina occupies the islands of 
the Alaska Panhandle including the Queen Charlotte islands within Canadian territory. 
It is a large-appearing bird, with the browns sooty instead of ruddy. 
Along the coast of Alaska, eastward to the point of the Aleutian Islands chain, a 
number of forms are distributed. These, reading westward, are: the Yakutat Song 
Sparrow Melospiza melodia caurina; The Kenai Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia kenaiensis; 
Bischoff’s Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia insignis, and the Aleutian Song Sparrow 
Melospiza melodia sanaka. These have the browns of the back generally greyer than 
the preceding races, and are separated from each other by small distinctions. They 
progressively increase in size until, in the Aleutian Song Sparrow, we find a bird com- 
paratively huge for a Song Sparrow, that approaches the Fox Sparrow in measurement. 
Some of these may be expected along the British Columbia coast in migration, but, 
though extremes are marked, the distinctions between adjoining races are too slight to 
be briefly defined here or to be recognized without an ample series for comparison. 
It is difficult to form a just and unprejudiced estimate of the standing 
of the Song Sparrow in the avian chorus. Its little medley of chirps and 
trills makes a sustained song of some duration and to those who listen 
to it sympathetically it has a gladness, brightness, and sweetness of tone 
that are difficult to surpass. The bird is almost omnipresent. It lives in 
the shrubbery close about the house and is one of the familiar birds of the 
garden. It haunts the thickets on the edge of the wood-lot or bordering 
rivulets. The deep woods and the clean, open fields are the only places 
where it is generally absent, and even there it sometimes surprises us with 
a burst of liquid song. 
Economic Status. The great numbers of the Song Sparrow render it 
most important to the agriculturist. An analysis of its food shows that 
only 2 per cent is composed of useful insects and 18 per cent of harmful 
ones. Waste grain constitutes 4 per cent and weed seeds 50 per cent. 
