WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. 
99 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of fifteen specimens. Length, 6'35; stretch, 9'55; wing, 3'05; tail, 2'85; bill, '48; tarsus, '90. 
Longest specimen, 7'35; greatest extent of wing, 9‘80; longest wing, 3’10; tail, 3'00; bill, '65; tarsus, ’95. Shortest speci¬ 
men, 0'30; smallest extent of wing, 8'80; shortest wing, 2'82; tail, 2'60; bill, '50; tarsus, *81. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed on the ground. They are rather compact structures, composed of dried grasses and fine roots, lined with 
horse hair and grass. Dimensions; external diameter, 4'00, internal, 2'75. External depth, 2‘50, internal, l - 75. 
Eggs, four or five in number, oval in form, bluish-white in color, spotted, blotched, and dotted with reddish-brown and 
lilac. Dimensions, from '80 x '60 to - 90x - 65. 
HABITS. 
The hammock edges in Florida are almost always occupied by birds of several spe¬ 
cies. Prominent among them are the White-throated Sparrows but they are confined to 
the Middle and Northern sections of the state. I did not find very many of them at Blue 
Springs, and none south of this point. But they were abundant along the borders of the 
extensive cotton plantations on the Sea Islands of the Carolinas and Georgia. While 
there, however, they have no special habits by which they can readily be distinguished 
from many other of the more arboreal, Fringilline birds; yet they never lose some pecu¬ 
liarities by which the close observer can always identify them. The sharp chirp of alarm 
that is given while the birds are in concealment, or while they peer cautiously out to watch 
the intruder, is one of the chief characteristics which the White-throated Sparrows .retain 
at all seasons. 
While passing through the Middle and New England States, when on their north¬ 
ward migration, they do not always frequent the wooded portions, but move in straggling 
flocks along the hedges and fence rows of the more cultivated sections. The mild but in¬ 
vigorating weather of early. May apparently awakens a desire in the birds to sing, and 
then they begin to practioe the first notes of their fine melody. But it is not until later, 
when they arrive in the evergreen forests which form their summer resorts, that the song 
is heard at full length. 
Then in the early mornings of June when the purple mist hangs over the mountains, 
where the delicate ferns which wave by the ever murmuring brooks are sparkling with dew 
drops, when the freshly grown leaves of the overhanging foliage are showing their loveliest 
green, the melodious strains of the White-throated Sparrows may be heard to perfection. 
This lay consists of several sweet, prolonged whistles, and is somewhat plaintive, but very 
pleasing. Not only do our little musicians perform through the cooler hours of the morn¬ 
ing, but the sultry noon-time also finds them singing. They are more silent when the sun 
declines toward the West, but begin again in the cool of evening. Thus they are almost 
untiring in their efforts through the day, and, as if not satisfied, will frequently burst in¬ 
to full song during the night. But when the rocky mountain tops are gleaming in the 
brilliant moon-light, and the silvery beams are finding their way through the openings in 
the shadowy forests, illuminating the little glades which form the homes of the Sparrows, 
they are especially musical. Then when all else is silent, save the occasional melancholy 
notes of the Whip-poor-will or the distant hoot of some Owl, the effect produced by this 
incomparable song is surpassingly beautiful. 
