SONG SPARROW. 
269 
SONG SPARROW FRINGILLA MELODIA. 
Plate XVI. Fig. 4. 
Fasciated Finch? Arct. Zool. p. 375, No. 252 Peale's Museum , No. 6573. 
EMBERIZA ?* MELODIA. — Jardine. 
Bonap. Synop. p. 108. — The Song Sparrow, Aud. pi. 25, Orn. Biog. i. p. 126. 
So nearly do many species of our Sparrows approximate to 
each other in plumage, and so imperfectly have they been 
taken notice of, that it is absolutely impossible to say, with 
certainty, whether the present species has ever been described 
or not. And yet, of all our Sparrows, this is the most 
numerous, the most generally diffused over the United States, 
and by far the earliest, sweetest, and most lasting songster. 
It may be said to be partially migratory, many passing to the 
south in the month of November; and many of them still 
remaining with us, in low, close, sheltered meadows and 
swamps, during the whole of winter. It is the first singing 
bird in spring, taking precedence even of the Pewee and 
Blue Bird. Its song continues occasionally during the whole 
summer and fall, and is sometimes heard even in the depth 
of winter. The notes, or chant, are short, but very sweet, 
resembling the beginning of the Canary’s song, and frequently 
repeated, generally from the branches of a bush or small tree, 
where it sits chanting for an hour together. It is fond of 
frequenting the borders of rivers, meadows, swamps, and such 
like watery places ; and, if wounded, and unable to fly, will 
readily take to the water, and swim with considerable rapidity. 
In the great cypress swamps of the southern states, in the depth 
* I have been puzzled where to place this bird — in Emberiza, or as a sub-genus 
of it. There seems much difference in the form of the bill, though it has 
“ a rudiment of the knob.” I have been unable to obtain a specimen for 
comparison. Mr Swainson thinks it connects the American Bunting with 
his Zonotrichia Ed. 
