A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 2. Robert Ridgway

A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 2 - Robert Ridgway


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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, BairdSWAMP 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.

      PLATE XXVIII.

      1. Melospiza palustris. ♂ D. C., 38746.

      2. Melospiza palustris. ♀ Pa.

Illustration: Color plate 28 detail 3

      3. Embernagra rufivirgata. Orizaba, 29229.

Illustration: Color plate 28 detail 4

      4. Peucæa æstivalis. Ga., 10245.

Illustration: Color plate 28 detail 5

      5. Peucæa cassini. Texas, 6329.

Illustration: Color plate 28 detail 6

      6. Peucæa ruficeps. Cal., 6241.

Illustration: Color plate 28 detail 7

      7. Passerella iliaca. Ad., Pa., 846.

Illustration: Color plate 28 detail 8

      8. Passerella townsendi. ♀ Columbia R., 2874.

Illustration: Color plate 28 details 9 and 10

      9. Passerella schistacea. Utah, 11234.

      10. Passerella schistacea. var. megarhyncha. ♂ Utah.

Illustration: Color plate 28 detail 11

      11. Euspiza americana. ♂ Pa., 1459.

Illustration: Color plate 28 detail 12

      12. Euspiza americana. ♀ D. C., 10133.

Illustration: Color plate 28 detail 13

      13. Euspiza townsendi. Pa., 10282. (Type.)

      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


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