TREE SPARROW. 300 
of Columbus it makes its appearance in October, and remains until 
the first of May. It is most abundant in November and March. In 
very severe weather in January most of them pass further south. They 
are to be found everywhere, but especially affect the undergrowth along 
the banks of streams, fence-rows, and thickets on the edges of woods. 
They are numerous in the gardens of cities, and become quite familiar. 
Their ordinary note is a short sharp emphatic chip, rapidly repeated as 
the bird is flushed, but in the spring as the days become warmer, they 
delight to set in the low branches of trees and sing a very sweet sup- 
pressed song, as if tuning up in anticipation of the approaching breed- 
ing season. ; 
The nest is placed on the ground. It is composed of strips of bark, 
straw, rootlets, and hair, and lined with moss and fur. The eggs are 
-creamy-white, spotted and blotched with reddish-brown. They measure 
.75 by .60. 
Genus SPIZELLA. Bonaparte. 
Bill conical, its outlines slightly carved, the lower mandible decidedly larger than the 
upper. Feet slender; tarsus rather longer than middle toe; hind toe a Jittle longer than 
outer lateral, which slightly exceeds the inner; outer claw reaching to base of middle 
- claw, and half as long asits toe. Wings somewhat pointed, about equal to and reach- 
ing nearly to middie of the tail; tail rather long, moderately forked. 
SPIZELLA MONTICOLA (Gm.) Bad. 
Tree Sparrow. 
Fringilla canadensis, KiRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Sury., 183", 164.—Reap, Proce Phila. Acad. 
Nat. Sci, vi, 1853, 395. 
Spizella monticola, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1c60, 366; Reprint, 1861, 8; Food of 
Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 566; Reprint, 1875, 6.—LANGDON, Cat. Birds 
of Cin , 1877, 8; Revised List, Journ. Cin. See Nat. Hist, i, 1879, 175: Reprint. 9. 
Fringilla monticola, GMELIN, Syst. Nat, i, 1788, 912. 
Fringilla canadensis, LaraaM, Ind. Orn., 1790, 434. 
Spizella monticola, BAIRD, Birds N. Am, 1858, 472 
Bill black above, yellow below; legs brown, toes black; no black on forehead; crown 
- chesfnvt (in winter specimens the feathers usually skirted with gray), bordered by a 
grayish-white superciliary and loral line, and some vague chestnut marks on sides of 
head; below, impurely whitish, tinged with ashy anteriorly, washed with pale brownish 
posteriorly; the middle of the breast with an ohseure dusky bloteh; middle of back 
boldly streaked with black, bay, and flaxen; middle and lesser wing-coverts black, 
edged with bay and tipped with white, forming two conspicuous cross-bars; inner 
secondaries similarly variegated ; other quills and tail feathers dusky, with pale edges. 
Length, 6; wing and tail, nearly 3. 
Habitat, North America at large, excepting, probably, the Gulf States. 
Abundant winter resident from November to the latter part of April. 
