402 
FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 
pine woods having an undergrowth of scrub palmetto. Here it passes 
most of its time on the ground, and is difficult to flush. 
When singing, it seeks an elevated perch. In my opinion its song 
is more beautiful than that of any other of our Sparrows. It is very 
simple — I write it, che-e-e-e — de, de, de] che-e — chee-o, chee-o, chee-o, 
chee-o — but it possesses all the exquisite tenderness and pathos of the 
melody of the Hermit Thrush; indeed, in purity of tone and in execu- 
tion I should consider the Sparrow the superior songster. It sings most 
freely very early in the morning and late in the afternoon, when the 
world is hushed and the pine trees breathe a soft accompaniment to 
its divine music. 
575a. P. se. baehmani ( Aud .). Bachman’s Sparrow. Similar to 
the preceding subspecies, but the upperparts rufous, black streaks generally 
confined to the back, or absent; line over the eye buffy; breast and sides 
brownish cream-buff without streaks. 
Range. — SE. U. S. Breeds in Carolinian and Austroriparian faunas 
in cen. Ills, (locally to se. Iowa), s. Ind., s. Ohio and cen. Ya. s. to cen. Tex., 
and extreme nw. Fla.; winters from s. N. C. s. into Fla.; casual near Washing- 
ton, D. C. 
Washington, one record, Apl. 
Nest, of grasses, domed and cylindrical, on the ground. Eggs, 3-4, pure 
white, *74 x *60 (Bendire, Auk, V, 1888, 356). Date , Weaverville, N. C., 
May 6; Greensboro, Ala., May 8. 
In Florida, where this bird is not uncommon during the winter, I 
have found it in pine woods undergrown with turkey oaks, and not in 
localities frequented by P. cestivalis. In South Carolina it was observed 
in essentially similar localities, and its song did not differ materially 
from that of cestivalis. Mr. Ridgway writes that in Illinois this is 
“emphatically a bird of open oak woods, where large white and post 
oaks prevail, with grass land immediately adjoining, or where the in- 
tervals between the trees consist of sward rather than undergrowth; 
but neglected fields, grown up to weeds, and in which dead trees are 
left standing, are also its favorite haunts.” 
He speaks of its song as reminding one somewhat of the plaintive 
chant of the Field Sparrow, but as far sweeter and louder; “the modu- 
lation, as nearly as can be expressed in words, resembling the syllables 
theeeeeee-thut , lut , lut, lut, the first being a rich, silvery trill, pitched in 
a high musical key, the other syllables also metallic, but abrupt, and 
lower in tone.” 
1888. Bendire, C. E., Auk, V, 351-356 (nesting). 
581. Melospiza melodia melodia (Wits.). Song Sparrow. Ads . — • 
Crown rufous-brown, with a grayish line through its center; a grayish line 
over the eye; a rufous-brown line from behind the eye to the nape; feathers 
of the back streaked with black and margined with rufous-brown and grayish ; 
greater wing-coverts with black spots at their tips; no white wing-bars or 
yellow on the wing; tail rufous grayish brown, the middle feathers darker 
along their shafts; outer feathers shortest; sides of the throat with black or 
blackish streaks; breast with wedge-shaped streaks of black and rufous- 
brown which tend to form one larger blotch on the center; sides washed 
