File:Report on the birds of Pennsylvania - with special reference to the food habits, based on over four thousand stomach examinations (1890) (20641964356).jpg

Title: Report on the birds of Pennsylvania : with special reference to the food habits, based on over four thousand stomach examinations
Identifier: commercialpoultr11 (find matches)
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Warren, Benjamin Harry, 1858-
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: Harrisburg : E. K. Meyers, State Printer
Contributing Library: Penn State University
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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?^ fc^ <1") <43 1 â¢âi § 9 :5 f^ o Ctj CNi CI ⢠â¢v <^ Qi â¢â4 9 ^^ ! BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 243 Lincoln's Spjirrow is found in Pennsylvania as a rather rare spring* and fall migrant, frequenting- shrubbery, brush piles, and weedy, briery thickets about streams and in swampy grounds. I have taken four specimens during the past ten years in eastern Pennsylvania: two early in May, one late in Septendjer, and the last early in October. Feeds on seeds and different kinds of insects. It is a quiet and secretive little bii'd, usually seen singly ; only occasionally is it found in com- pany with other species of sparro\\ s, and if disturbed it seeks safety by hiding in thc^ thick undergrowth rather than by flight. Melospiza georgiana (Lath.). Swamp Sparro^v. Description. Size a little smaller than Song Sparrow ; crown bright chestnut; forehead black ; back broadly streaked with black, and most feathers of back edged with brownish ; upper surface of wings and tail decidedly rusty ; belly white ; sides, Hanks and tibia? brownish; chest and line over eye grayish; the lower anterior parts are usually without streaks or spots ; throat whitish with sometimes indistinct blackish streaks. Habitat. â Irlastern North America to the plains, accidentally to Utah, north to British i)rovinccs, including Newfoundland and Labrador. Breeds from Northern States northward, and winters in the Middle States and southward. The Swamp Sparrow is retiring in its habits, and, as the name would indicate, it is a common frequenter of grassy, weedy and bushy swamps; it is also often found about the edges of streams and ponds where weeds and grasses grow in abundance. I have never found the nest of this species, but from reports received from various naturalists and collectors it appears that it breeds sparingly in neai-ly all parts of the state. The Swamp Sparrow occurs as a tolerably fre(iuent winter resident in swampy thickets in the southern counties of Pennsylvania. The nest and t^ggs of this bird, as described by different writers, are very similar to those of the Song Sparrow. The food is similar to that of other birds of the genus Melospiza. Genus PASSERELLA Swainson. Passerella iliaca (Merr.). Vox Sparrow. Desciuption (Plate si. Fig. s.) Upper mandil)le dark, lower chiefly yellow ; legs l)rown. Readily distinguished by its rusty red or ferruginous colors, brigiitest on the wings, rump and tail ; below white ; upper part of breast, sides of throat and body with triangular rusty spots, darkest and most conspicuous on middle of upper part of chest; tips of middle and greater coverts forming two whitish wing bars. Length about 1\ inches; extent about 112- Habitat.âKa^iiivn North Ain(;rica, west to the plains and Alaska (valley of the Yukon to the Pacilic), and from tlie Arctic coast south to the Gulf States. Breeds north of the Triited States : winlcrs chieny south of the Potomac and Ohio rivers. ; COLOR PLATE

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