306 vixen as, sm nnows, ETC.

In Florida, where this bird is not uncommon during the winter, I have found it in pine woods undergrown with turkey oaks, and not in localities frequented by 1’. restful/is. Mr. Ridgway writes that in Illinois this is "emphatically a bird of open oak woods, where large white and post oaks prevail, with grass land immediately adjoining, or where the intervals between the trees consist of sward rather than umlcrgrrowth; but neglected fields, glown up to weeds, and in which de 1d trees are left standing, are also its favorite haunts.’

He speaks of its song as reminding one somewhat of the plaintive chant of the Field Sparrow, but as far sweeter and lender; “the modu- lation, as nearly as can be expressed in words, resembling the syllables tlw'éée’ééé- thul, Int, Inf, Int, the first being a rich silvery trill, pitched in a high musical key, the other syllables also metallic, but abrupt, and lower in tone.”

581. Melospiza fasciata. (017111.). Soxo SPARROW. AIL—Crown ruflwus~br0\\‘n, with a grayish line through its center; a grayish line over the eye; arut'ous—brown line from behind the eye to the nape; feathers of the back streaked with black and 111argi11ed with rui'ous—brown and grayish; greater wintr— eoverts with black spots at their tips; no white wing—bars or \ellow on the wing; tail rut‘ous "ray 1sl1 biown, the middle featheis darker along theii shatts; outer feathers sheitest; sides of the throatw1th black or blackish streaks; breast with wedge—shaped streaks of' black and rut'ous— brown whieh t1 ml to form one [tiff/('7‘ Mute/1 on the center; sides washed with brownish and streaked with black and rufous—brown; middle of the belly white. 11.. 0'30: \V. ., :2' 5:2: T.,2'I,‘1‘2; Ii, '49.

Range. Eastern North .~\meiie1i; breeds from northern Illinois and Vir- ginia north to Quebec and Manitoba; winters from southern Illinois and Massachusetts to the Gulf States.

Washington, common I’. R., abundant 'l‘. V'., Meh. and Oct. Sing Sing, common P. R. Cambridge, \‘ery abundant S. 1%., Meh. 10 to Nov. 1', locally common \V. V.

Nest, of coarse grasses, rootlets, dead leaves, strips of bark, etc, lined with finer grasses and sonu-times long hairs, on the ground, sometimes in bushes. Iii/(Is, four to five, white or bluish white, with numerous rut'ous—brown mark— ings which sometimes nearly conceal the ground color, "1'6 x '60.

The Song Sparrow’s vast range in a dozen varying climates, its readiness to adapt itself to the different conditions in each of the re- gions it inhabits, its numerical abundance and steady increase while some of its family are dying out, its freedom from disease and vermin, and its perennial good spirits evidenced by its never-failing music—— all proclaim that it is indeed one of Nature’s successes.

Its irrepressible vivacity and good spirits in spite of all circum- stances are aptly illustrated by the fact that its song may be heard in every month of the year and in all weathers; also by night as well as by day—for nothing is more common in the darkest nights than to