HELOSPIZA PALUSTRIS. 
117 
indeed they appear to he partly aquatic, for if one he wounded it will instantly jump into 
the water and strike out holdly. I have also frequently seen them dive beneath the sur¬ 
face when I was about to capture them, or creep into holes with the body submerged, be¬ 
having much as I have seen young ducks under similar circumstances. 
These sparrows, like the greater portion of the family, are seldom found in the woods 
but prefer hedge rows along open fields. On the Magdalen Islands they find shelter in the 
short shrubbery on the edges of the little clearings, they are abundant on the margins of 
the rich interval lands of Maine, and thousands may be found in the thickets along fences 
which intersect the farms of Massachusetts. They also swarm in countless myriads in the 
rank growth of vegetation along the river bottoms of Pennsylvania. On the borders of 
the cotton plantations of the Sea Islands, they were very numerous and I even met them 
in the orange groves of Northern Florida; in fact it is difficult to find a single locality where 
one will not be greeted by the chirp or melodious carol of the Song Sparrow, for they are 
one of the most abundant of birds in the section of which I write. 
GENUS XV. HELOSPIZA. THE SWAMP SPARROWS. 
Gen. Ch. Bill, somewhat slender, not thick nor swollen at base. Upper mandible, but little curved. Wings, longer 
than the tail which is slightly rounded. Sternum, not stout, with the coracoids equal in length to the top of the keel which is 
very low, not exceeding in height one third the length of the coracoids. Size, rather small. 
I have been induced to follow Prof. Baird’s suggestion as given in Birds of N. A. 1858, p. 477, and remove the species 
herewith given from the genus Melospiza, not cnly on account cf the differences in external structure, hut also on account 
of the peculiar form of the sternum which has as low a keel and as long coracoids as any genus in the Family, not excepting 
Ammodromus, to which Helospiza is closely allied both in structure and in habit. 
HELOSPIZA PALUSTRIS. 
Swamp Sparrow. 
Helospizapalustris Baird, Birds N. A.; 1858, 477. t 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Ch. Form, rather robust. Size, small. Tongue, rather thin and horny, provided with a bifid, terminal tuft of 
hair-like fibers. Sternum, as given above. 
Color. Adult in spring. Ear coverts, sides, flanks, upper portion of body, yellowish-rufous, with the la tter broadly 
streaked with dark-brown. Top of head, chestnut. Forehead, maxillary and superciliary lines, lores, back of neck, and 
band across breast, ashy. Outer webs of wings and tail, bright reddish-brown, dullest on the latter; inner webs, brown. 
Spots on scapularies and wing coverts, dark-brown. Throat, belly, abdomen, and under tail coverts, white, with the latter 
tinged with yellowish. Bill and feet, brown. 
Adult in winter. Similar to the above, but with the chestnut of the top of head obscured with black markings, and a 
median line of ashy extends from bill to occiput. 
Young. Have the sides and flanks streaked with dusky, while the top of the head is streaked with black, and the sides 
of the head are tinged with yellowish. 
Young of the year. Colors above, more suffused, and there are but slight indications of maxillary lines. There is a 
tinge of yellowish over the throat, sides, flanks, and breast, and the latter is streaked with dusky. 
Nestlings. The ashy markings are obscured with yellowish-rufous, and the entire under parts are tinged with it. 
The lower neck and breast are streaked more or less with dark-brown. Bill, lighter. Sexes similar in all stages. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Specimens vary considerably in shade of color on the back, some having it nearly as bright as the crown. The streak¬ 
ings are also broader on some than on others. Readily distinguished in the adult stages by the clear chestnut crown and 
black forehead, taken in connection with the ashy band across the breast. The younger stages may always be distinguished 
by the bright reddish-brown wings which are very noticeable even in the nestlings. Distributed, during the breeding sea 
son, throughout Eastern United States, from the latitude of Pennsylvania north to that of Canada. Winters from the Car- 
olinas to Southern Florida. 
