295 
The remainder is composed of wild fruit and other unimportant material. 
It is seen from this that the Song Sparrow is of considerable economic 
importance. Investigation has shown that one-quarter of an ounce of 
weed seed a day is a fair estimate of the amount consumed by a seed- 
eating Sparrow. During the nine months the Song Sparrow is with us in 
the average Canadian locality the consumption amounts to four and a 
quarter pounds an individual a year. Allowing seventy-five Song 
Sparrows a square mile as a very conservative estimate of population, 
we get a total for the southern cultivated parts of Ontario of over eleven 
thousand tons of weed seeds destroyed annually by this one species; other 
sections are probably in proportion. 
583. Lincoln's Sparrow (Including Forbush’s Sparrow). Melospiza Uncolni. L, 
5 *75. Like the Song Sparrow but with a belt of buffy across the breast which is marked 
also with small, fine spots not aggregated into a central blotch. 
Distinctions. The above distinctions will separate Lincoln’s 
from all other Sparrows it may be confused with. 
Field Marks. A good view will show the faint buff breast and 
fine spotting. Otherwise it is with difficulty separated in life 
from the Song Sparrow. The back is rather greyer than the Song 
Sparrow and this often arouses a suspicion of the presence of 
Lincoln’s Sparrow that may be confirmed by other characters. 
Nesting. Similar to that of the Song Sparrow, on the ground. 
Distribution. The species is distributed all over America, 
breeding in the northern coniferous woods. 
SUBSPECIES. The Eastern Lincoln’s Sparrow Melospiza 
Uncolni Uncolni extends west to the Coast range. Forbush’s 
Sparrow Melospiza Uncolni striata is accredited to the coast, 
breeding south to Sitka region, Alaska, and migrating along the 
British Columbia coast. It is a faintly defined race, slightly more olivaceous on bade, 
and with the dark streaks heavier and more numerous. It is not unanimously accepted 
and the difficulty of identifying individual specimens makes the separation of range of 
the two forms very uncertain. 
On migration, especially in the east, Lincoln’s is one of the shyest and most elusive 
of birds. It skulks in the brush and has reduced concealment to a fine art. On its breeding 
grounds and in the west it is much more confiding, and, especially when in song, it is not 
very difficult to find. 
584. Swamp Sparrow. Melospiza georgiana. L, 5*89. Much like the Song 
Sparrow, but of stronger and less blended coloration and without any distinct breast-Btreaks 
or markings. 
Distinctions. The Swamp Sparrow is difficult to separate from several other forms 
comparable in both colour and size. It may be distinguished from the Song Sparrow, 
with which it is most likely to be confused by the unstreaked breast, and ; in adult 
birds, by the red crown. Young autumn birds strongly resemble juvenile White-throats, 
but lack the faint yellow loral spot, are not as evenly ruddy on the back, and usually have 
a suggestion of an ashy bar across the shoulders at the base of the neck, an ashy cast to 
the crown, and eyebrow lines that are absent in that species It may be known from the 
Tree Sparrow by the lack of the dark middle breast-epot or white wing-bars. 
Field Marks. It resembles a Song Sparrow without breast-streaks, a White-throat 
without yellow loral spot, or a Tree Sparrow without wing-bars or breast-spot. In summer 
when the Tree Sparrow is not present, the red cap is distinctive. 
Nesting. Nest similar to that of the Song Sparrow, on the ground, sometimes in the 
grass. 
Distribution. North America, mostly north and east of the Great Plains. Rare 
or absent in migration in the prairie regions. One record for central British Columbia. 
As its name implies, this is a bird of the swamps and marshes. The 
long grass and shrubby edges of marshes are its typical haunts. Late in 
the autumn it joins the large mixed flocks of Sparrows in the brush heaps and 
tangled fence-rows and then comes into closer contact with man. 
Figure 272 
Lincoln’s Sparrow; 
scale, $. 
