TREE SPARROW. 
495 
hind-head and neck with touches of dusky-brown and white ; cheeks 
brownish-white ; back varied with blackish, brown, and pale ash ; 
shoulders of the wings above and below, and lesser coverts of the 
same, olive-yellow; primaries and tail, drab, the feathers of the lat- 
ter rather pointed ; breast without spots, yellowish- white with a 
tinge of brown. Belly and vent white. Legs flesh-color. Bill dus- 
ky, pale bluish-white below. — The two sexes are nearly alike. 
TREE SPARROW. 
( Fringilla canadensis , Lath. F. arbor ea, Wilson, ii. p. 123. pi. 16 . 
fig. 3. Phil. Museum, No. 6575.) 
Sp. Charact. — Crown bright bay ; stripe over the eye, sides of the 
neck, chin, and breast, pale ash ; wings with two white bars ; bill 
black, the lower mandible yellow ; legs and feet dusky ; 1st pri- 
mary shorter than the 5th and 2d. 
This handsome winter Sparrow arrives from the 
northern regions in New England about the close of Oc- 
tober, withdrawing from Hudson’s Bay and the neigh- 
bouring countries some time in the month of September. 
The species, consequently, like many more of our Fringil- 
las , only measures his speed by the resources of subsist- 
ence he is able to obtain, and thus straggling southward, 
as the winter advances, he enters Pennsylvania only 
about the beginning of November ; there, as well as in 
the maritime parts of Massachusetts, and perhaps as far 
south as Virginia, the Tree Sparrow is often seen as- 
sociated with the hardy Snow-Birds, gleaning a similar 
kind of subsistence ; and when the severity of winter com- 
mences, leaving the woods, gardens, and uplands in 
which he is an occasional visitor, he seeks in company 
the shelter of some bushy swamp, thickly shaded brook, 
or spring. Near Fresh Pond, in this vicinity, they are 
at that season numerous, and roost together near the 
margin of the reeds, almost in the society of the Black- 
birds, who seek out a similar place of warmth and shelter 
as the chilling frosts begin to prevail. 
