FIELD KEY 
137 
c. Underparts cream-buff; a conspicuous whitish line over the eye; 
upperparts rufous-brown; movements active; tail carried erect; 
haunts lower growth; notes loud and striking; length 5’ 50. 
718. Carolina Wren. 
2. Back streaked. 
A. Crown rufous or chestnut without streaks. 
a. Length 5*25; bill black; a whitish line over the eye; a familiar 
bird of lawns and dooryards; song, a monotonous chippy- 
chippy-chippy 560. Chipping Sparrow. 
h. Length 5*50; bill reddish brown, back rufous, or rufous-brown; 
wing-bars and eye-ring whitish ; haunts dry, bushy fields and 
pastures; song, a musical, plaintive cher-wee, cher-wee, cher-wee, 
cheeo, dee-dee-dee-dee 563. Field Sparrow. 
c. Length 5*50; forehead black; crown and wings chestnut-rufous; 
flanks pale grayish brown; haunts marshes; song, a rapidly 
repeated weet-weet-weet, etc 584. Swamp Sparrow. 
B. Crown not rufous or chestnut. 
a. Length 6*75; crown, blackish with a central whitish stripe; throat 
white; breast gray; a yellow spot before the eye; haunts in and 
about thickets and bushy woodlands; song, a high, clear, musical 
whistle; call-note, chink . . . 558. White-throated Sparrow. 
b. Length 5*50; crown finely streaked; a tree climber, winding 
patiently up tree trunks in search of food; tail-feathers pointed. 
726. Brown Creeper. 
c. Length 5*50; bill slender; a white line over the eye; tail carried 
erect; haunts reedy marshes; call-note scolding; song, rippling. 
725. Long-billed Marsh Wren. 
II. Underparts not all one color. 
1. Underparts white or whitish, streaked or spotted. 
A. Back streaked. 
a. Crown streaked; underparts conspicuously streaked. 
a 1 . Outer tail-feathers white, showing conspicuously when the 
bird flies; length 6*00; haunts dry fields and roadsides; song 
loud and musical 540. Vesper Sparrow. 
v 6 1 . Outer tail-feathers not white. 
b 2 . Length 6*00; plumage with a rufous-brown cast; spots on the 
\ breast tending to form one large spot in its center; haunts on or 
near the ground, generally in the vicinity of bushes; call-note, 
a characteristic chimp; song musical. . . .581. Song Sparrow. 
— \ 5 3 . Length 6*00 ; no rufous in the plumage ; streaks on the underparts 
evenly distributed; frequently seen feeding on buds or blos- 
soms; call-note, a sharp chink , often uttered during flight; 
song, a sweet, flowing warble . . 517. Purple Finch (Im.). 
b. Crown not streaked, rufous-brown; underparts whitish with an 
indistinct blackish spot in the center of the breast; Oct. to 
Apl 559. Tree Sparrow. 
B. Back not streaked. 
a. Upperparts rufous, olive-brown, or cinnamon-brown. 
a 1 . Bill slender and thrushlike; breast spotted with blackish. 
a 2 . Length 11*00; tail 5*00; wing-bars white; upperparts, wings, 
and tail uniform rufous ; haunts undergrowth ; sings from an 
exposed and generally elevated position; song loud, striking 
and continuous 705. Brown Thrasher. 
b 2 . Length under 9*00; tail under 3*00; no wing-bars. 
6 3 . Breast and sides heavily marked with large, round, black 
sp ts ;head and upper back brighter than lower back and tail ; 
call-note, a sharp pit or liquid quirt . 755. Wood Thrush. 
6 4 . Breast with wedge-shaped black spots; sides unspotted, 
washed with brownish ashy; tail rufous, brighter than back; 
call-note, a low chuck 7595, Hermit Thrush. 
