500 
GRANIVOROUS BIRDS. 
The Small Brown Sparrow arrives in Pennsylvania 
and New England from the Southern States, where it 
passes the winter, in the beginning of April. It is with 
us a shy, wild, and retiring species, partial to dry hills 
and pastures, and open, bushy, secluded woods, living 
much in trees. In autumn, indeed, the pair accompa- 
nied by their brood in small flitting flocks, leave their 
native wilds, and glean, at times, in the garden or orch- 
ard ; yet but little is now seen of them, as they only ap- 
proach cultivated grounds a few weeks before their de- 
parture. These Sparrows, if indeed they are the same as 
those described by Wilson, in winter, flock together in 
great numbers in the Southern States, and mingling with 
the Chipping Birds, and other species, they now line the 
roads, fences, and straggling bushes, near the plantations 
in such numbers, as, with their sober and brown livery, 
to resemble almost a shower of rustling and falling leaves, 
continually haunting the advancing steps of the travel- 
ler, in hungry, active flocks, driven by the storms of 
w r inter into this temporary and irksome exile. But, no 
sooner does the return of early spring arrive, than they 
flit entirely from the Southern wilds, to disperse in pairs 
and seek out again their favorite native regions of the 
North. 
The nest of this species, built on the ground, in the 
mere shelter of some grassy tuft or accidental small bush, 
is made often wholly of the fine stalks of dried grass ; 
sometimes it is lined also with horse-hair. The eggs, 5 
or 6, are so thickly sprinkled with ferruginous as to ap- 
pear almost wholly of that color. They raise usually 
two broods in a season in the Middle States. 
Our little bird has a pretty loud and shrill note, which 
may be heard at a considerable distance, and possesses 
some variety of tone and expression. Sometimes it is 
