Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

3. M. palustris. Jugulum and nape tinged with ashy;
outer surface of wings bright castaneous, in strong
contrast with the olivaceous of the back; dorsal streaks
broad, black, without rufous externally; a superciliary
and maxillary stripe of ashy. ♂. Crown uniform chestnut,
forehead black. ♀. Crown similar, but divided by an
indistinct ashy stripe, and more or less streaked with
black (autumnal or winter ♂ similar). _Juv._ Head, back,
and jugulum streaked with black on a yellowish-white
ground; black prevailing on the crown. _Hab._ Eastern
Province of North America.

[2] _Winter plumage._ Rusty prevailing above, but hoary
whitish edges to feathers still in strong contrast; streaks
beneath with a rufous suffusion externally, but still with
the black in excess.

[3] _Winter plumage._ Gray above more olivaceous, the black
streaks more subdued by a rufous suffusion; streaks beneath
with the rufous predominating, sometimes without any black.

[4] _Winter plumage._ Above rusty-olive, with little or no
ashy, the black streaks broad and distinct. Streaks beneath
with the black and rusty in about equal amount.

[5] In summer the streaks beneath are entirely intense
black; in winter they have a slight rufous external
suffusion.

[6] _Melospiza melodia_, var. _mexicana_, RIDGWAY. Mexican
Song Sparrow. _? ? Melospiza pectoralis_, VON MÜLLER.

SP. CHAR. (Type, 60,046, Puebla, Mexico, A. BOUCARD.)
Similar to _M. melodia_, but ground-color above olive-brown;
inner webs of interscapulars pale ashy, but not in strong
contrast. Crown and wings rusty-brown, the former with broad
black streaks, and divided by a just appreciable paler line;
back with broad black streaks without any rufous suffusion.
Superciliary stripe pure light ash, becoming white anterior
to the eye; two broad, dark-brown stripes on side of
head,—one from the eye back along upper edge of auriculars,
the other back from the rictus, along their lower border.
Lower parts pure white, the flanks and crissum distinctly
ochraceous; markings beneath broad and heavy, entirely pure
deep black; those on the jugulum deltoid, on the sides
linear. Wing, 2.60; tail, 2.85; bill, .37 and .24; tarsus,
.85; middle toe without claw, .68. This may possibly be the
_M. pectoralis_ of von Müller. The description cited above,
however, does not agree with the specimen under
consideration. The pectoral spots are expressly stated to be
brown, not even a black shaft-streak being mentioned,
whereas the pure black spots of the specimen before us
render it peculiar in this respect, being, in fact, its
chief characteristic.

Melospiza melodia, BAIRD.

SONG SPARROW.

_Fringilla melodia_, WILSON, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 125, pl. xvi, f.
4.—LICHT. Verz. 1823, No. 249.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 126;
V, 507, pl. 25.—IB. Syn. 1839, 120.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841,
147, pl. clxxxix.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 275. _Zonotrichia
melodia_, BON. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 478. _? ?
Fringilla fasciata_, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 922.—NUTTALL,
Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 562. _? ? Fringilla hyemalis_, GMELIN,
Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 922. _Melospiza melodia_, BAIRD, Birds N.
Am. 1858, 477.—SAMUELS, 321.

SP. CHAR. General tint of upper parts rufous and distinctly streaked with rufous-brown, dark-brown, and ashy-gray. The crown is rufous, with a superciliary and median stripe of dull gray, the former lighter; nearly white anteriorly, where it sometimes has a faint shade of yellow, principally in autumn; each feather of the crown with a narrow streak of black forming about six narrow lines. Interscapulars black in the centre, then rufous, then pale grayish on the margin, these three colors on each feather very sharply contrasted. Rump grayer than upper tail-coverts, both with obsolete dark streaks. There is a whitish maxillary stripe, bordered above and below by one of dark rufous-brown, and with another from behind the eye. The under parts are white; the jugulum and sides of body streaked with clear dark-brown, sometimes with a rufous suffusion. On the middle of the breast these marks are rather aggregated so as to form a spot. No distinct white on tail or wings. Length of male, 6.50; wing, 2.58; tail, 3.00. Bill pale brown above; yellowish at base beneath. Legs yellowish.

HAB. Eastern United States to the high Central Plains.

Specimens vary somewhat in having the streaks across the breast more or less sparse, the spot more or less distinct. In autumn the colors are more blended, the light maxillary stripe tinged with yellowish, the edges of the dusky streaks strongly suffused with brownish-rufous.

The young bird has the upper parts paler, the streaks more distinct; the lines on the head scarcely appreciable. The under parts are yellowish; the streaks narrower and more sharply defined dark brown.

As already stated, this species varies more or less from the above description in different parts of North America, its typical races having received specific names, which it is necessary to retain for them as varieties.

HABITS. The common Song Sparrow of eastern North America has an extended range of distribution, and is resident throughout the year in a large part of the area in which it breeds. It nests from about South Carolina north to the British Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at the east, and to a not well-defined limit in British America. The most northern points to which it has been traced are the plains of the Saskatchewan and the southern shore of Lake Winnepeg, in which latter place Mr. Kennicott found it breeding. It is said by Dr. Coues to breed in South Carolina, and by Mr. Audubon in Louisiana, but I have never seen any of their eggs from any point south of Washington. In winter it is found from Massachusetts, where only a few are observed, to Florida. It is most abundant at this period in North and South Carolina. It is not mentioned in Dr. Gerhardt’s list as being found in Northern Georgia at any season of the year. Mr. Ridgway informs me that it does not breed in Southern Illinois. Its song is not popularly known there, though he has occasionally heard it just before these Sparrows were leaving for the north. This species winters there in company with the _Z. albicollis_ and _Z. leucophrys_, associating with the former, and inhabiting brush-heaps in the clearings.

To Massachusetts, where specimens have been taken in every month of the year, and where they have been heard to sing in January, they return in large numbers usually early in March, sometimes even in February. It is probable that these are but migrants, passing farther north, and that our summer visitants do not appear among us until the middle of April, or just as they are about to breed. They reach Maine from the 15th to the 25th, and breed there the middle of May. In Massachusetts they do not have eggs until the first week in May, except in very remarkable seasons, usually not until after the Bluebird has already hatched out her first brood, and a week later than the Robin.

The tide of returning emigration begins to set southward early in October. Collecting in small loose flocks, probably all of each group members of the same family, they slowly move towards the south. As one set passes on, another succeeds, until the latter part of November, when we no longer meet with flocks, but solitary individuals or groups of two or three. These are usually a larger and stouter race, and almost suggest a different species. They are often in song even into December. They apparently do not go far, and are the first to return. In early March they are in full song, and their notes seem louder, clearer, and more vibratory than those that come to us and remain to breed.

The Song Sparrow, as its name implies, is one of our most noted and conspicuous singers. It is at once our earliest and our latest, as also our most constant musician. Its song is somewhat brief, but is repeated at short intervals, almost throughout the days of spring and early summer. It somewhat resembles the opening notes of the Canary, and though less resonant and powerful, much surpasses them in sweetness and expression. Plain and homely as this bird is in its outward garb, its sweet song and its gentle confiding manners render it a welcome visitor to every garden, and around every rural home wherein such attractions can be appreciated. Whenever these birds are kindly treated they readily make friends, and are attracted to our doorsteps for the welcome crumbs that are thrown to them; and they will return, year after year, to the same locality, whenever thus encouraged.

The song of this Sparrow varies in different individuals, and often changes, in the same bird, in different parts of the year. It is even stated by an observing naturalist—Mr. Charles S. Paine, of Randolph, Vt.—that he has known the same bird to sing, in succession, nine entirely different sets of notes, usually uttering them one after the other, in the same order. This was noticed not merely once or during one season, but through three successive summers. The same bird returned each season to his grounds, and came each time provided with the same variety of airs.

Mr. Nuttall, who dwells with much force upon the beauty and earnestness of expression of the song of this species, has also noticed and remarked upon the power of individuals to vary their song, from time to time, with very agreeable effect, but no one has recorded so remarkable an instance as that thus carefully noted by Mr. Paine.

These birds are found in almost any cultivated locality where the grounds are sufficiently open. They prefer the edges of open fields, and those of meadows and low grounds, but are rarely found in woods or in thick bushes, except near their outer edges. They nest naturally on the ground, and in such situations a large majority build their nests. These are usually the younger birds. A portion, almost always birds of several summers, probably taught by sad experiences of the insecurity of the ground, build in bushes. A pair which had a nest in an adjoining field had been robbed, by a cat, of their young when just about to fly. After much lamentation, and an interval of a week, I found this same pair, which I easily recognized, building their nest among some vines near my house, some eight feet from the ground. They had abandoned my neighbor’s grounds and taken refuge close to my house. This situation they resorted to afterwards for several successive summers, each season building two nests, never using the same nest a second time, although each time it was left as clean and in as good condition as when first made. Indeed, this species is remarkable for its cleanliness, both in its own person and in its care of nestlings and nests.

They feed their young chiefly with insects, especially small caterpillars; the destructive canker-worm is one of their favorite articles of food, also the larvæ of insects and the smaller moths. When crumbs of bread are given them, they are eagerly gathered and taken to their nests.

In the Middle States they are said to have three broods in a season. This may also be so in New England, but I have never known one pair to have more than two broods in the same summer, even when both had been successfully reared. Nests found after July have always been in cases where some accident had befallen the preceding brood.

The nest of the Song Sparrow, whether built on ground, bush, or tree, is always well and thoroughly made. Externally and at the base it consists of stout stems of grasses, fibrous twigs of plants, and small sticks and rootlets. These are strongly wrought together. Within is made a neat, well-woven basket of fine long stems of grasses, rarely anything else. On the ground they are usually concealed beneath a tuft of grass; sometimes they make a covered passage-way of several inches, leading to their nest. When built in a tree or shrub, the top is often sheltered by the branches or by dry leaves, forming a covering to the structure.

The eggs of the Song Sparrow are five in number, and have an average measurement of .82 by .60 of an inch. They have a ground of a clay-color or dirty white, and are spotted equally over the entire egg with blotches of a rusty-brown, intermingled with lighter shades of purple. In some these markings are so numerous and confluent as to entirely conceal the ground-color; in others they are irregularly diffused over different parts, leaving patches unmarked. Occasionally the eggs are unspotted, and are then not unlike those of _Leucosticte griseinucha_.

Melospiza melodia, var. fallax, BAIRD.

WESTERN SONG SPARROW.

_Zonotrichia fallax_, BAIRD, Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. VII, June, 1854, 119
(Pueblo Creek, New Mexico). _? Zonotrichia fasciata_, (GM.)
GAMBEL, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. 2d Series, I, 1847, 49. _Melospiza
fallax_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 481, pl. xxvii, f.
2.—KENNERLY, P. R. R. X, _b._ pl. xxvii, f. 2.—COOPER, Orn.
Cal. I, 215.

SP. CHAR. Similar to var. _melodia_, but with the bill on the whole rather smaller, more slender, and darker. Legs quite dusky, not yellow. Entire plumage of a more grayish cast, including the whole superciliary stripe. The streaks on throat and jugulum in spring are almost black, as in _melodia_; in autumn more rufous; in all cases quite as sharply defined as in _melodia_. The bill is nearly black in spring.

HAB. Middle Province of United States, to the Sierra Nevada.

This race, intermediate between _melodia_ and _heermanni_ in habitat, is, however, hardly so in characters. The bill is more slender than in either, being much like that of _guttata_, and the tail is longer in proportion to the wing. In colors it is paler than either, the ground-cast above being nearly clear grayish: the streaks, both on the back and jugulum, are more sparse, as well as narrower; very frequently, in the winter plumage, those beneath lack the central black, being wholly rufous; such is the case with the type. In summer, however, they are frequently entirely black, the external rufous having entirely disappeared. As in _heermanni_, the rump is immaculate. The young bird differs as does the adult, though the resemblance to those of _melodia_ and _heermanni_ is more close than in the adult. The very narrow bill and long tail are the most characteristic features of form.

HABITS. In habits and song, Dr. Cooper can find no appreciable differences between this variety and its nearest allies. He states that its nest, which he found in a willow thicket, was composed of bark and fine twigs and grass, and lined with hair. Its eggs he describes as bluish-white, blotched and streaked with reddish-brown, and as measuring .74 by .55 of an inch.

Dr. Coues found this species a common and permanent resident in Arizona, and he pronounces its habits, manners, and voice precisely like those of _M. melodia_. This species, he states, occurs throughout New Mexico, Arizona, and a part of Southern California, and is particularly abundant in the valley of the Colorado.

Dr. Kennerly observed this species only along Pueblo Creek, in the month of January. It did not confine itself to the open valley, but was often seen among the thick bushes that margined the creek, far up into the Aztec Mountains, where the snow covered the ground. In its habits it resembled the _Poospiza belli_, being very restless and rapid in its motions, accompanying them with a short chirp, feeding upon the seeds of the weeds that remained uncovered by the snow. Its flight was also rapid and near the earth. The bird being very shy, Dr. Kennerly found it difficult to procure many specimens.

According to Mr. Ridgway, the Western Song Sparrow is one of the most abundant of the resident species inhabiting the fertile portions of the Great Basin. It principally occupies the willows along the streams, but is also found in _tulé_ sloughs of the river valleys. From a long acquaintance with the Western Song Sparrows, Mr. Ridgway is fully convinced of the propriety of recognizing this as a distinct variety from the eastern _M. melodia_. In all respects, as to habits, especially in its familiarity, it replaces at the West the well-known Song Sparrow of the East. When first heard, the peculiar measure and delivery of its song at once attracts attention. The precision of style and method of utterance are quite distinct and constant peculiarities. The song, though as pleasing, is not so loud as that of the eastern Song Sparrow, while the measure is very different. He noted the syllables of its song, and found them quite uniform. He expresses the song thus: _Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha—wit’—tur’-r-r-r-r-r—tut_. The first six syllables as to accent are exactly alike, but with a considerable interval or pause between the first and second notes. The second to the fifth follow in rapid succession, each being uttered with deliberation and distinctness. Then comes a pause between the last “cha” and the “wit,” which is pronounced in a fine metallic tone with a rising inflection, then another pause, and a liquid trill with a falling inflection, the whole terminating abruptly with a very peculiar “tut,” in an entirely different key from the other notes.

The nests and eggs were found in the Wahsatch Mountains, June 23. The nests were generally among bushes, in willow thickets, along the streams, about a foot from the ground. One of these nests found in a clump of willows, about two feet from the ground and near a stream, is a compact, firmly built nest, in the shape of an inverted dome. It is two and a half inches in height, and about the same in diameter. Externally it is composed of a coarse framework of strips of willow bark firmly bound around. Within is a compactly woven inner nest, composed of straws, mingled and interwoven with horse-hairs. The cavity has a depth and diameter of two inches. The eggs, four in number, measure .85 by .63 of an inch. Their form is a rounded oval, distinctly pointed at one end. They have a greenish-white ground, marked and blotched with splashes of purplish and reddish brown.

Melospiza melodia, var. heermanni, BAIRD.

HEERMANN’S SONG SPARROW.

_Melospiza heermanni_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am., 1858, 478, pl. 70, f.
1.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 212.

SP. CHAR. Somewhat like _melodia_, but darker. The streaks on the back and under parts blacker, broader, more distinct, and scarcely margined with reddish, except in winter plumage. The median stripe on vertex indistinct. General shade of coloration olivaceous-gray rather than rusty. Length, 6.40; wing, 2.56; tail, 3. Bill and legs in size and color most like _melodia_.

HAB. Southern California; eastern slope of Sierra Nevada (Carson City), and West Humboldt Mountains, Nev.; RIDGWAY.

Of the various races of _M. melodia_, this one approaches nearest the typical style of the Atlantic region; agreeing with it in thicker bill and shorter tail, as compared with the var. _fallax_, which occurs between them. It differs from the var. _melodia_, however, in a more grayish cast to the ground-color of the upper plumage, being olivaceous-gray, rather than reddish; the black dorsal streaks are very much broader than the rusty ones, instead of about equal to them in width, and the edges to the interscapular feathers are not appreciably paler than the prevailing shade, instead of being hoary whitish, in strong contrast. In spring the “bridle” on the side of the throat and the spots on the jugulum have the black of their central portion in excess of their external rufous suffusion; but in autumn the rusty rather predominates; at this season, too, the rusty tints above overspread the whole surface, but the black streaks are left sharply defined. At all seasons, the spots on the jugulum are broader and rather more numerous than in _melodia_. The young can scarcely be distinguished from those of _melodia_, but they have the dark streaks on the crown and upper tail-coverts considerably broader.

HABITS. The California Song Sparrow has been named in honor of the late Dr. Heermann, who first obtained specimens of this bird in the Tejon Valley, and mistook them for the _Zonotrichia guttata_ of Gambel (_M. rufina_), from which they were appreciably different. Whether a distinct species or only a local race, this bird takes the place and is the almost precise counterpart, in most essential respects, of the Song Sparrow of the East. The exact limits of its distribution, both in the migratory season and in that of reproduction, have hardly yet been ascertained. It has been found in California as far north as San Francisco, and to the south and southeast to San Diego and the Mohave River.

The California Song Sparrow is the characteristic _Melospiza_ in all that portion of the State south of San Francisco. It is found, Dr. Cooper states, in every locality where there are thickets of low bushes and tall weeds, especially in the vicinity of water, and wherever unmolested it comes about the gardens and houses with all the familiarity of the common _melodia_. The ground, under the shade of plants or bushes, is their usual place of resort. There they diligently search for their food throughout the day, and rarely fly more than a few yards from the place, and remain about their chosen locality from one year’s end to another, being everywhere a resident species. In the spring they are said to perch occasionally on some low bush or tree, and sing a lively and pleasant melody for an hour at a time. Each song, Dr. Cooper remarks, is a complete little stanza of a dozen notes, and is frequently varied or changed entirely for another of similar style, but quite distinct. Although no two birds of this species sing just alike, there is never any difficulty in distinguishing their songs when once heard. There is, he thinks, a similarity of tone and style in the songs of all the species of true _Melospiza_, which has led other observers to consider them as of only one species, when taken in connection with their other similarities in colors and habits.

Dr. Cooper found a nest, presumed to belong to this bird, at Santa Cruz, in June. It was built in a dense blackberry-bush, about three feet from the ground, constructed with a thick periphery and base of dry grasses and thin strips of bark, and lined with finer grasses. The eggs were of a smoky white, densely speckled with a dull brown. Although this bird was abundant around Santa Cruz, he was only able, after much searching, to find two of their nests. One was in a willow, close against the tree, and three feet from the ground, containing, on the 11th of May, four eggs partially hatched. This was built of coarse dry stems and leaves, lined with finer grasses and horse-hair. It was five inches in external diameter, and four high. The cavity was two and a half inches deep and two in diameter. These eggs had a ground of greenish-white, and were blotched and spotted with a purplish-brown, chiefly at the larger end. They were .82 by .62 of an inch in measurement. The ground-color was paler and the spots were darker than in eggs of _Z. gambeli_, the whole coloring much darker than in those of _M. fallax_. This nest was apparently an old one used for a second brood.

Another nest found as late as July 10, and doubtless a second brood, was in a thicket, six feet from the ground, and also contained four eggs. Dr. Cooper states that he has seen the newly fledged young by the 7th of May.

Dr. Heermann, in his account of this bird, which he supposed to be the _guttata_ of Dr. Gambel, states that he found it abundant throughout the whole country over which he passed, and more especially so in the bushes bordering the streams, ponds, and marshes. Its notes, sweet, and few in number, resembled those of the common Song Sparrow. Its nests, usually built in thick tufts of bushes, were composed externally of grasses and lined with hair, and contained each four eggs, with a pale bluish-ash ground, thickly covered with dashes of burnt umber. Eggs of this species, from near Monterey, collected by Dr. Canfield, vary in measurement from .85 by .65 of an inch to .88 by .70,—larger than any eggs of _Melospiza melodia_ that I have seen. Their ground-color is a light green. The blotches are large, distinct, and more or less confluent, and of a blended reddish and purplish brown. They are in some diffused over the entire egg, in others disposed around the larger end.

Melospiza melodia, var. samuelis, BAIRD.

SAMUELS’S SONG SPARROW.

_Ammodromus samuelis_, BAIRD, Pr. Boston Soc. N. H. VI, June, 1858,
381.—IB. Birds N. Am. 1858, 455, pl. lxxi, f. 1.—COOPER, Orn.
Cal. I, 191. _Melospiza gouldi_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 479.

SP. CHAR. Somewhat like _Melospiza melodia_, but considerably smaller and darker. Bill slender and acute, the depth not more than half the culmen. Above streaked on the head, back, and rump with dark brown, the borders of the feathers paler, but without any rufous. Beneath pure white; the breast, with sides of throat and body, spotted and streaked with black, apparently farther back than on other species. Wings above nearly uniform dark brownish-rufous. Under tail-coverts yellowish-brown, conspicuously blotched with blackish. An ashy superciliary stripe, becoming nearly white to the bill, and a whitish maxillary one below which is a broad blackish stripe along the sides of neck; the crown with faint grayish median line. Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.20; tail, 2.35. Bill dusky; legs rather pale. Bill, .35 from nostril by .24 deep; tarsus, .71; middle toe without claw, .58. (5,553 ♂, Petaluma, Cal.)

HAB. Coast region of California, near San Francisco.

The above description is of a specimen in worn summer plumage, when the markings have not the sharp definition seen in the autumnal plumage. The autumnal plumage is as follows: Ground-color above grayish-olive, outer surface of wings, with the crown, more rufous; crown with narrow, and dorsal region with broad, stripes of black, the latter with scarcely a perceptible rufous suffusion; crown with a distinct median stripe of ashy. Streaks on jugulum, etc., broader than in the type, and with a slight rufous suffusion. Wing, 2.20; tail, 2.35; bill from nostril .31, its depth .22; tarsus .74; middle toe without claw, .60.

The type of _Melospiza gouldi_ resembles the last, and differs only in having a more distinct rufous suffusion to the black markings; the measurements are as follows: Wing, 2.20; tail, 2.35; bill, .33 by .23; tarsus, .73; middle toe without claw, .59.

This is probably a dwarfed race of the common species, the very small size being its chief distinctive character. The colors are most nearly like those of _heermanni_, but are considerably darker, caused by an expansion of the black and contraction of the rufous markings. The pattern of coloration is precisely the same as in the other races. The present bird appears to be peculiar to the coast region of California, the only specimens in the collection being from the neighborhood of San Francisco.

HABITS. Of the history, distribution, and general habits of this species, nothing is known. It was found at Petaluma, Cal., by Emanuel Samuels, and described in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1858. The following description of the nest and eggs of this bird, in the Smithsonian collection, has been kindly furnished me by Mr. Ridgway.

Nests elaborate and symmetrical, cup-shaped, composed of thin grass-stems, but externally chiefly of grass-blades and strips of thin inner bark. Diameter about 3.50 inches; internal diameter 2.00, and internal depth 1.50; external, 2.00. Egg measures .78 by .62; regularly ovate in shape; ground-color, greenish-white; this is thickly sprinkled with purplish and livid ashy-brown, the specks larger, and somewhat coalescent, around the larger circumference. (3553, San Francisco, Cal., J. Hepburn.)

Melospiza melodia, var. guttata, BAIRD.

OREGON SONG SPARROW.

_Fringilla cinerea_, (GM.) AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 22, pl.
cccxc.—IB. Syn. 1839, 119.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 145, pl.
clxxxvii. _Passerella cinerea_, BP. List, 1839.—IB.
Conspectus, 1850, 477. _Fringilla (Passerella) guttata_,
NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 581. _Zonotrichia guttata_,
GAMBEL, J. A. N. Sc. I, Dec. 1847, 50. _Melospiza rufina_,
BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 480.—COOPER & SUCKLEY, 204.—DALL &
BANNISTER, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1859, 285.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 214.

SP. CHAR. Bill slender. Similar in general appearance to _M. melodia_, but darker and much more rufous, and without any blackish-brown streaks, or grayish edges of the feathers; generally the colors more blended. General appearance above light rufous-brown, the interscapular region streaked very obsoletely with dark brownish-rufous, the feathers of the crown similar, with still darker obsolete central streaks. A superciliary and very indistinct median crown-stripe ashy. Under parts dull white, the breast and sides of throat and body broadly streaked with dark brownish-rufous; darker in the centre. A light maxillary stripe. Sides of the body and anal region tinged strongly with the colors of the rump. Under coverts brown. Length, 6.75; wing, 2.70; tail, 3.00. Legs rather darker than in _melodia_. Bill from nostril, .37; from forehead, .60.

HAB. Pacific coast of the United States to British Columbia.

A young bird from Napa Valley, Cal. (12,912, Colonel A. J. Grayson), probably referrible to this race, differs from the corresponding stage of _heermanni_, _fallax_, and _melodia_ in the following respects: the ground-color above is much darker, being dull dingy-brown, and the dusky streaks broader; the white beneath has a strong yellowish tinge, and the pectoral streaks are very broad.

HABITS. Dr. Cooper characterizes this species as the most northern and mountain-frequenting representative of the Song Sparrows, being a resident of the higher Sierra Nevada and on the borders of the evergreen forests towards the Columbia, and thence northward, where it is the only species of this genus, and where it is common down to the level of the sea. Specimens have been obtained at Marysville in the spring, by Mr. Gruber.

Dr. Cooper says that he has also met with this bird, and found it possessing habits and songs entirely similar to those of the eastern _M. melodia_, and resembling also those of the more southern _M. heermanni_. He was never able to meet with one of their nests, as, like other forest birds, they are more artful in concealing their treasures than birds that have become accustomed to the society and protection of man, and who, no longer wild, select gardens as the safest places in which to build. In the mild winters usual about the mouth of the Columbia, these birds do not evince any disposition to emigrate, but come familiarly around the houses for their food, when the snow has buried their usual supply.

Dr. Suckley remarks that this Finch is quite a common bird in the vicinity of Puget Sound, and that it is there resident throughout the year. He has found them in very different situations; some in thickets at the edges of prairies, others in stranded drift-logs on open salt marshes, as well as in swamps, and in the dense forests of the Douglass firs, peculiar to the northwest coast. Its voice, he adds, is, during the breeding-season, singularly sweet and melodious, surpassing that of the Meadow Lark in melody and tone, but unequal to it in force.

This species is stated to be a constant resident in the district wherein it is found, never ranging far from the thicket which contains its nest, or the house in the neighborhood of which it finds food and protection. Almost every winter morning, as well as during the summer, as Dr. Cooper states, its cheerful song may be heard from the garden or the fence, as if to repay those whose presence has protected it from its rapacious enemies. When unmolested, it becomes very familiar, and the old birds bring their young to the door to feed, as soon as they can leave their nest. Their song is said to so closely resemble that of the eastern bird, in melody and variety, that it is impossible either to tell which is the superior or to point out the differences. In wild districts it is always to be found near the sides of brooks, in thickets, from which it jealously drives off other birds, whether of its own or other species, as if it considered itself the proprietor. Its nest is built on the ground or in a low bush. Dr. Cooper has seen newly fledged young as early as May 6, at Olympia, though the rainy season was then hardly over.

Mr. Nuttall pronounces its song as sweeter and more varied in tone than that of the Song Sparrow. He heard their cheerful notes throughout the summer, and every fine day in winter until the month of November, particularly in the morning, their song was still continued. Their nests and eggs were not distinguishable from those of _F. melodia_. The nests were composed of dry grasses, lined with finer materials of the same, and occasionally with deer’s hair. He states that they keep much in low ground and alluvial situations, amidst rank weeds, willows, and brambles, where they are frequently to be seen hopping about and searching after insects, in the manner of the Swamp Sparrow, which they so much resemble in their plumage. They are usually very solicitous for the safety of their young or for their nests and eggs, keeping up an incessant chirp. They raise several broods in a season, and are, like the Song Sparrow, also engaged nearly the whole of the summer in the cares of rearing their young.

Mr. Townsend met with this species through several hundred miles of the Platte country in great numbers, as well as on the banks of the Columbia, generally frequenting the low bushes of wormwood (_Artemisia_). It appeared also to be a very pugnacious species. Two of the males were often observed fighting in the air, the beaten party going off crestfallen, and the conqueror repairing to the nearest bush to celebrate his triumph by his lively and triumphant strains. He again met with these birds, though not in abundance, in June, 1825, at the mouth of the Lewis River, on the waters of the Columbia.

This Sparrow was also found very numerous at Sitka, by Mr. Bischoff, but no mention is made of its habits.

Melospiza melodia, var. rufina, BAIRD.

RUSTY SONG SPARROW.

_Emberiza rufina_, “BRANDT, Desc. Av. Rossic. 1836, tab. ii, 5
(Sitka),” BONAPARTE. _Passerella rufina_, BONAP. Consp. 1850,
477. (This may refer to _Passerella townsendi_, but is more
probably the present bird.) _Melospiza cinerea_, FINSCH, Abh.
Nat. III, 1872, 41 (Sitka). (Not _Fringilla c._ GMEL.) _M.
guttata_, FINSCH, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 41 (Sitka). (Not
_Fringilla g._ NUTT.)

SP. CHAR. Resembling _M. guttata_ in the undefined markings, slender bill, etc., but olivaceous-brownish instead of rufous above, the darker markings sepia-brown instead of castaneous. The white beneath much tinged with ashy; jugulum-spots blended, and of a sepia-brown tint. Wing, 3.00; tail, 3.00; bill .41 from nostril, and .25 deep at base.

HAB. Northwest coast, from British Columbia northward. (Sitka.)

The above characters are those of a large series of specimens from Sitka, and a few points along the coast to the southward and northward, and represent the average features of a race which is intermediate between _guttata_ and _insignis_, in appearance as well as in habitat. Tracing this variety toward the Columbia River, it gradually passes into the former, and northward into the latter.

We have no distinctive information relative to the habits of this race.

Melospiza melodia, var. insignis, BAIRD.

KODIAK SONG SPARROW.

_? Fringilla cinerea_, GMELIN, I, 1788, 922 (based on Cinereous
Finch, LATH. II, 274).—PENN. Arc. Zoöl. II, 68 (Unalaschka).
_Emberiza cinerea_, BONAP. Consp. 1850, 478. _Melospiza
insignis_, BAIRD, Trans. Chicago Acad. I, ii, 1869, p. 319, pl.
xxix, fig. 2.—DALL & BANNISTER, do. p. 285.—FINSCH, Abh. Nat.
III, 1872, 44 (Kodiak).

SP. CHAR. _Summer plumage_ (52,477 ♂, Kodiak, May 24, 1868). Above brownish-plumbeous, outer surface of wings somewhat more brown, the greater coverts slightly rufescent. Interscapulars with medial broad but obsolete streaks of sepia-brown; crown and upper tail-coverts with more sharply defined and narrower dusky shaft-streaks. Crown without medial light line. Beneath grayish-white, much obscured by brownish-plumbeous laterally. A whitish supraloral space, but no appreciable superciliary stripe; a whitish maxillary stripe; beneath it an irregular one of dusky sepia; irregular streaks of dark grizzly-sepia on breast and along sides, blended into a broad crescent across the jugulum. Wing, 3.30; tail, 3.50; bill, .48 from nostril, .28 deep at base, and .21 in the middle, the middle of the culmen being much depressed, its extremity rather abruptly decurved.

_Autumnal plumage_ (60,162, Kodiak, received from Dr. J. F. Brandt). Differs very remarkably in appearance from the preceding. The pattern of coloration is everywhere plainly plotted, there being a distinct vertical and sharply defined superciliary stripe. Ground-color above ashy, somewhat overlaid by rusty, except on the sides of the neck. Whole crown, outer surface of wings, and dorsal streaks, rusty rufous; black streaks on crown and upper tail-coverts obsolete. Beneath pure white medially, the markings rusty rufous. Wing, 3.30; tail, 3.60; bill, .47 and .30.

HAB. Kodiak and Unalaschka.

This race represents the extreme extent of variation in the species, and it would be difficult for a species to proceed farther from the normal standard; indeed, the present bird is so different even in form, especially of bill, from _melodia_, that, were it not for the perfect series connecting them, few naturalists would hesitate to place them in different genera.

HABITS. No information has so far been published in reference to the nesting of this Sparrow, or of any peculiar habits.

Melospiza lincolni, BAIRD.

LINCOLN’S FINCH.

_Fringilla lincolni_, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 539, pl.
cxciii.—NUTT. Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 569. _Linaria lincolni_,
RICH. List, 1837. _Passerculus lincolni_, BONAP. List, 1838.
_Peucæa lincolni_, AUD. Synopsis, 1839, 113.—IB. Birds Am.
III, 1841, 116, pl. clxxvii.—BONAP. Consp. 1850, 481.—IB.
Comptes Rendus, XXVII, 1854, 920. _Melospiza lincolni_, BAIRD,
Birds N. Am. 1858, 482.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869,
285 (Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 216. _Passerculus
zonarius_, (BP.) SCLATER, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1856, 305.

SP. CHAR. General aspect above that of _M. melodia_, but paler and less reddish. Crown dull chestnut, with a median and lateral or superciliary ash-colored stripe; each feather above streaked centrally with black. Back with narrow streaks of black. Beneath white, with a maxillary stripe curving round behind the ear-coverts; a well-defined band across the breast, extending down the sides, and the under tail-coverts, of brownish-yellow. The maxillary stripe margined above and below with lines of black spots and a dusky line behind eye. The throat, upper part of breast, and sides of the body, with streaks of black, smallest in the middle of the former. The pectoral bands are sometimes paler. Bill above dusky; base of lower jaw and legs yellowish. Length, 5.60; wing, 2.60.

HAB. United States from Atlantic to Pacific, north to the Yukon River and the Mackenzie, and south through Mexico to Panama. Oaxaca (SCL. 1858, 303); Xalapa (SCL. 1859, 365); Guatemala (SCL. Ibis, I, 18); Vera Cruz, winter (SUM. M. B. S. I, 552).

There is little or no difference in specimens of this bird from the whole of its range, except that one from near Aspinwall is considerably smaller than usual, the streaks on the back narrower, and the color above more reddish. A young bird from Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie, is much like the adult.

HABITS. Lincoln’s Finch was first met with by Mr. Audubon in Labrador, and named in honor of one of his companions, Mr. Thomas Lincoln, now residing at Dennysville, Maine, by whom the first specimen was procured. His attention was attracted to it by the sweet notes of its song, which, he states, surpass in vigor those of any of our American Sparrows with which he was acquainted. He describes this song as a compound of the notes of a Canary and a Woodlark of Europe. The bird was unusually wild, and was procured with great difficulty. Other specimens, afterwards obtained, did not exhibit the same degree of wildness, and they became more common as the party proceeded farther north. He did not meet with its nest.

He describes the habits of this species as resembling, in some respects, those of the Song Sparrow. It mounts, like that bird, on the topmost twig of some tall shrub to chant for whole hours at a time, or dives into the thickets and hops from branch to branch until it reaches the ground in search of those insects or berries on which it feeds. It moves swiftly away when it discovers an enemy, and, if forced to take to flight, flies low and rapidly to a considerable distance, jerking its tail as it proceeds, and throwing itself into the thickest bush it meets. Mr. Audubon found it mostly near streams, and always in the small valleys guarded from the prevalent cold winds of that country.

He also describes this species as eminently petulant and pugnacious. Two males would often pursue each other until the weaker was forced to abandon the valley, and seek refuge elsewhere. He seldom saw more than two or three pairs in a tract of several miles in extent. By the 4th of July the young had left their nests and were following their parents. As from that time the old birds ceased to sing, he inferred that they raised but one brood in a season. Before he left Labrador these birds had all disappeared.

Although first discovered on the coast of Labrador, subsequent explorations have shown this bird to be far more common at the West than it is at the East, where indeed it is exceedingly rare. Not a specimen, that I am aware of, has ever been found in Maine, although it probably does occasionally occur there; and only a very few isolated individuals had been taken in Massachusetts before the spring of 1872, when they were noticed by Mr. Brewster and Mr. Henshaw in considerable numbers. These birds, seven or eight in number, were shot, with two exceptions, in May, between the 14th and the 25th. Three were taken in Springfield by Mr. Allen, one in Newburyport by Mr. Hoxie, two in Hudson by Mr. Jillson, and two in Cambridge by Mr. Brewster. The latter were obtained, one in September and the other in October. In May, 1872, Mr. Brewster obtained six others. Mr. Allen had met with this Finch in Wayne County, N. Y., in May, where it was not uncommon, and in Northern Illinois, where it was quite numerous. A few have been taken near New York City, and in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, where they are regarded as very rare. Professor Baird, however, frequently met with them at Carlisle, Penn.

Farther west, from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific, they are much more common. Mr. Ridgway states that they occasionally winter in Southern Illinois, where they frequent retired thickets near open fields. They have been found breeding near Racine, Wis., by Dr. Hoy, and have been met with also in Nebraska in considerable numbers; and, during the breeding-season, Mr. Audubon met with them on the Upper Missouri.

From March to May Mr. Dresser found these birds very abundant in the fields near the San Antonio River, and in some swampy grounds. They seemed to prefer that sort of locality, and the banks of the river, keeping among the flags and rushes. Their stomachs were found to contain small seeds. Mr. Lincecum also met with a few in Washington County of the same State.

It was not met with in Arizona by Dr. Coues, but Dr. Kennerly found it in the month of February from the Big Sandy to the Great Colorado River. It confined itself to the thick bushes along the streams, and when seen was generally busily hopping from twig to twig in search of food. When started up, its flight was very rapid and near the earth.

Dr. Heermann obtained this species, not unfrequently, both in Northern California and in the Tejon Valley. On all occasions he found it in company with flocks of Sparrows, composed of several species.

Lieutenant Couch took this species at Tamaulipas, Mexico, and at Brownsville, Southwestern Texas, in March. It has also been seen in May, at the Forks of the Saskatchewan, by Captain Blakiston.

Lincoln’s Finch was met with by Mr. Ridgway in abundance only during its spring and fall migrations. Towards the last of April it was quite common in wet brushy places in the vicinity of Carson City. It was next observed in October among the willows bordering Deep Creek, in Northern Utah. In the weedy pastures in Parley’s Park it was a common species, frequenting the resorts of the _Z. leucophrys_. A nest, with young, was discovered near the camp. It was embedded in the ground, beneath a bush. Its song he did not hear, only a single _chuck_, almost as loud as that of the _Passerella schistacea_.

Dr. Cooper reports this species as near San Diego about March 25. Large flocks were then passing northward. During the day they kept among the grass, and were rather shy and silent. They seemed to have a good deal of the habits of the _Passerculus_, and to differ much in their gregariousness, their migratory habits, and their general form, from the other _Melospizæ_. Dr. Cooper did not meet with any of these birds in the Colorado Valley, nor has he seen or heard of any having been found in California during the summer. The _M. lincolni_ has been found breeding up to high Arctic latitudes. It was met with by Mr. Kennicott at Fort Simpson and at Fort Resolution. At the latter place its nests were found between the 2d and the 14th of June. They were also obtained in May, June, and July, at Fort Simpson, by Mr. B. R. Ross, and at Yukon River, Fort Rae, Nulato, and other localities in the extreme northern regions, by Messrs. Reid, Lockhart, Clarke, Kirkby, and Dall. On Mt. Lincoln, Colorado, above eight thousand feet, Mr. Allen found this Sparrow very numerous.

This Finch was found by Salvin about the reeds on the margin of Lake Dueñas, Guatemala, in February, but was not common. It is common, in the winter months, near Oaxaca, Mexico, where it was taken by Mr. Boucard.

Mr. Kennicott saw its nest June 14. This was on the ground, built in a bunch of grass in rather an open and dry place, and containing five eggs. The female permitted him to approach very close to her, until he finally caught her on the nest with his beating-net. Another nest was placed in a bunch of grass growing in the water of a small grassy pond. The nest contained four eggs and one young bird.

The nest and eggs of this species had been previously discovered by Dr. Hoy, near Racine. This is, I believe, the first instance in which it was identified by a naturalist, as also the most southern point at which it has ever been found. These eggs measure .74 by .60 of an inch. They have a pale greenish-white ground, and are thickly marked with dots and small blotches of a ferruginous-brown, often so numerous and confluent as to disguise and partially conceal the ground.

Melospiza palustris, BAIRD.

SWAMP SPARROW.

_Fringilla palustris_, WILSON, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 49, pl. xxii, f.
1.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 331; V, 508, pl. lxiv. _Fringilla
(Spiza) palustris_, BONAP. Obs. Wilson, 1825, No. 105.
_Passerculus palustris_, BONAP. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus,
1850, 481. _Ammodromus palustris_, AUD. Syn. 1839.—IB. Birds
Am. III, 1841, 110, pl. clxxv. _Melospiza palustris_, BAIRD,
Birds N. Am. 1858, 483.—SAMUELS, 323. _? Fringilla georgiana_,
LATH. Index Orn. I, 1790, 460 (perhaps _Peucæa
æstivalis_).—LICHT. Verz. 1823, No. 251. _Fringilla
(Ammodromus) georgiana_, NUTT. Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 588.

SP. CHAR. Middle of the crown uniform chestnut; forehead black; superciliary streak, sides of head and back, and sides of neck, ash. A brown stripe behind the eye. Back with broad streaks of black, which are edged with rusty yellow. Beneath whitish, tinged with ashy anteriorly, especially across the breast, and washed with yellowish-brown on the sides. A few obsolete streaks across the breast, which become distinct on its sides. Wings and tail strongly tinged with rufous; the tertials black, the rufous edgings changing abruptly to white towards the end. Length, 5.75; wing, 2.40.

_Female_ with the crown scarcely reddish streaked with black, and divided by a light line. Young conspicuously streaked beneath the head, above nearly uniform blackish.

HAB. Eastern North America from the Atlantic to the Missouri; north to Fort Simpson.

In autumn the male of this species has the feathers of the crown each with a black streak; and the centre of the crown with an indistinct light stripe, materially changing its appearance.

The forehead is usually more or less streaked with black.

In the uncertainty whether the _Fringilla georgiana_ of Latham be not rather the _Peucæa æstivalis_ than the Swamp Sparrow, I think it best to retain Wilson’s name. It certainly applies as well to the latter, which has the black sub-maxillary streak, and the chin and throat more mouse-colored than in _palustris_.

HABITS. Owing to the residence of this species in localities not favoring frequent visits or careful explorations, and still more to its shy and retiring habits, our writers have not been generally well informed as to the history and general manners of this peculiar and interesting Sparrow. Its irregular distribution, its abundance only in certain and unusually restricted localities, its entire absence from all the surrounding neighborhood, and its secretiveness wherever found, have all combined to throw doubt and obscurity over its movements. Unless purposely looked for and perseveringly hunted up, the Swamp Sparrow might exist in large numbers in one’s immediate neighborhood and yet entirely escape notice. Even now its whole story is but imperfectly known, and more careful investigation into its distribution and general habits will doubtless clear up several obscure points in regard to its movements.

From what is now known, we gather that it occurs throughout the eastern portions of North America, from the Southern States, in which it passes the wintry months, to high northern latitudes, where some find their way in the breeding-season, extending as far to the west at least as the Missouri River region.

Three specimens were obtained at Fort Simpson, by Mr. Kennicott, in September, which indicates their probable summer presence in latitude 55°, and their near approach to the Pacific coast at the extreme northwestern portion of their distribution. Audubon also met with them in Newfoundland and in Labrador. They are known to breed as far to the south as Pennsylvania. They have been taken in the eastern portion of Nebraska, and breed in considerable numbers in Southern Wisconsin. Further investigations in regard to its distribution will probably show it to be a much more widely distributed as well as a more abundant bird than has been generally supposed.

Mr. Ridgway writes me that this bird winters in Southern Illinois, and remains there very late in the spring, but he thinks that none remain to breed.

Wilson states that it arrives in Pennsylvania early in April, where it frequents low grounds and river-courses, rears two and sometimes three broods in a season, and returns to the South as the cold weather commences. During the winter, he met with them in large numbers in the immense cypress swamps and extensive grassy flats of the Southern States, along the numerous rivers and rice plantations. These places abounded with their favorite seeds and other means of sustenance, and appeared to be their general places of resort at this season. From the river Trent, in North Carolina, to the Savannah River, and even farther south, Wilson found this species very numerous. They were not found in flocks, but skulked among the reeds and grass, were shy and timorous, and seemed more attached to the water than any others of this family. In April large numbers pass through Pennsylvania northward. Only a few remain behind, and these frequent the swamps and the reedy borders of creeks and rivers. He found their nests built in the ground, in tussocks of rank grass, surrounded by water, with four eggs of a dirty-white ground, spotted with rufous. He has found them feeding their young as late as the 15th of August. Their food seemed to be principally grass-seeds, wild oats, and insects. He supposed them to have no song, and that their only note was a single _cheep_ uttered in a somewhat hoarse tone. They flirt their tails as they fly, seldom or never take to trees, but run and skulk from one low bush to another.