116 
SONG SPARROW. 
Nestlings. Show no traces whatever of the ashy, which is replaced by yellowish-rufous, and the under parts are very 
strongly tinged with the latter named color. The streakings below occupy the same position, but are not as wide, and do 
not form a cluster on the breast. The bill and feet are lighter. Sexes similar in all stages. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
There are few birds which are more easily recognized than the Song Sparrow, yet it is difficult to find a species where 
there is so much individual variation in respect to the markings below. In a large series before me, from many sections 
east of the Mississippi River, I find that there is every gradation, from a breast so slightly spotted as to almost leave the 
central cluster alone, to one so heavily marked as to nearly obscure the cluster, and even the throat, usually immaculate, is 
spotted. Rarely there is no clustering of spots on the breast in the adult; this character is, however, usually absent in 
the nestlings. Specimens from Utah are less spotted than the average of more Eastern skins and are paler above. Known 
in the adult stage by the streakings above and spots below, taken in connection with the ashy markings of the head. The 
nestlings may be recognized by the reddish-brown wings and tail. Distributed during the breeding season from the latitude 
of South Carolina to the far North. Winters from Massachusetts to Northern Florida. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of twenty-eight specimens. Length, 6'38; stretch, 8*75; wing, 2'55; tail, 2 - 77; bill, ‘48; tarsus, 
•75. Longest specimen, 6’75; greatest extent of wing, 8*50; longest wing, 2£C; tail, 2T0; bill, ‘50; tarsus, '76. Shortest 
specimen, 6'00; smallest extent of wing, 9'00; shortest wing, 2’35; tail, 2'65; bill,‘55; tarsus, ’70. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed on the ground or in bushes. They are compact structures of grass, lined with finer. Dimensions; exter¬ 
nal diameter, 4‘00, internal, 2'50. External depth, 2‘75, internal, 1’75. 
Eggs, four or five in number, oval in form, bluish in color, spotted and dotted with reddish-brown and lilac. Dimen¬ 
sions from ‘65 x "70 to ’85 x '05. 
HABITS. 
Winter has scarcely begun to relax his icy grasp from the water and to lift his snowy 
mantle from off the land, when those harbingers of the coming spring, the Song Sparrows, 
begin to chant their enlivening lay about the homesteads of New England. Load and 
cheerily do they sing on the bright mornings in early March, and when they have once 
begnn nothing seems to daunt their ardor. No matter how very stormy the weather, day¬ 
light always finds them singing. I have heard their song when the wind was blowing a 
gale, and the little performers were obliged to seek shelter beneath the hedges, and have 
seen one start to fly when the force of the blast was so great that it fairly swept him into 
a thicket but he clung tenaciously to the boughs and, as if to bid defiance to the raging 
elements, poured forth his liveliest carol. Rightly has this species been named melodia, 
for none among our native birds sings so long or so often as the Song Sparrow. As we 
have seen, they begin their musical efforts amid the snow and sleet of the lingering winter, 
continuing them through the spring and summer; nor does the sultry heat of August cause 
them to cease, for even then they sing during the cool of morning and evening. Through 
the autumn their melodies may still be heard, and when the brown earth is covered with 
fallen leaves our little, plainly colored friends occasionally indulge in the same clearly 
given lay that they practiced earlier in the season. 
The Song Sparrows are among the first to breed of the smaller birds, nesting often by 
the middle of April. The nests are sometimes placed in low bushes but oftener on the 
ground. Shortly after the first brood have been reared a second litter of eggs is deposited 
and often a third brood is brought out the same season. During the summer and autumn 
these Sparrows are very fond of the neighborhood of streams and other bodies of fresh water, 
