502 
GRANIYOROUS BIRDS. 
SWAMP SPARROW. 
(Fringilla georgiana , Lath. i. p. 460. No. 86. F. palustris, Wil- 
son, iii. p. 49. pi. 22. fig. 1. [male]. Audubon, pi. 64. Orn. i. 
p. 331. Phil. Museum, No. 6569.) 
Sp. Charact. — The 1st primary shorter than the 6th ; front black- 
ish ; crown bay, undivided ; line over the eye, sides of the neck, 
and breast, ash-color; bill robust, dusky, the lower mandible yel- 
lowish towards the base ; legs and feet very stout, the hind nail 
longer than the toe ; tarsus J of an inch. 
The aquatic habits of this common though little known 
species is one of its most remarkable peculiarities. In 
New England they arrive from the Southern States, 
where they winter, about the middle of April, and take 
up their summer residence in the swamps and marshy 
meadows, through which, often, without flying, they 
thread their devious way with the same alacrity as the 
Rail, with whom they are indeed often associated in 
neighbourhood. In consequence of this perpetual brush- 
ing through sedge and bushes, their feathers are fre- 
quently so worn that their tails appear almost like those 
of rats, and are very often flirted in the manner of the 
Wagtail. Occasionally, however, they mount to the tops 
of low bushes or willow trees and chant forth a few trill- 
ing, rather monotonous minor notes, resembling, in some 
measure, the song of the preceding species, and appearing 
like twe tw’ tw ’ tw’ tic ’ tw twe , and twV tw’l ’ tw tw’ twe , 
uttered in a pleasant and somewhat varied warblei These 
notes are uttered with considerable effort, and sometimes 
with a spreading of the tail. In the spring, on their first 
arrival, this song is delivered with much spirit, and 
echoes through the marshes like the trill of the Canary. 
The sound now resembles the syllables ’tw ’tw ’tie ’twee 
’ twee ’tw ’ twe ’twe, or ’tshp ’ tshp ’tshe ’ tsh ’ tsh ’ tsh ’ tsh , 
beginning loud, sweet, and somewhat plaintive, and the 
