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T H E S O N G S P A R R O W.
FRINGILLA ML'LODIA, W I L S.
P L A T E X X V . MALE A N D F E M A L E .
T H E Song Sparrow is one of the most abundant of its tribe in Louisiana,
during winter. This abundance is easily accounted for by the circumstance
that it rears three broods in the year:—six, live, and three
young at each time, making fourteen per annum from a single pair. Supposing
a couple to live in health, and enjoy the comforts necessary for the
bringing up of their young families, for a period of only ten years, which
is a moderate estimate for birds of this class, you will readily conceive
how a whole flock of Song Sparrows may in a very short time be produced
by them.
Among the many desiderata connected with the study of nature, there
is one which, long felt by me, is not less so at the present moment. I
have never been able to conceive why a bird winch produces more than
one brood in a season, should abandon its first nest to construct a new
one, as is the case with the present species; while other birds, such as the
Ospreys, and various species of Swallows, rear many broods in the first
nest which they have made, and to which they return, after their long
annual migrations, to repair it, and render it fit for the habitation of the
young brood. There is another fact which renders the question still
more difficult to be solved. I have generally found the nests of this
Sparrow cleaner and more perfect after the brood raised in them have
made their departure, than the nests of the other species of birds mentioned
above are on such occasions; a circumstance which would render
it unnecessary for the Song Sparrow to repair its nest. You are aware
of the cleanliness of birds with respect to their nests during the whole
period occupied in rearing their young. You know that the parents remove
the excrements to a distance from them, so long as these excrements
are contained in a filmy kind of substance, of which the old bird
lays hold with its bill for that express purpose, frequently carrying them
off to a distance of forty or fifty yards, or even more. Well, the Song
Sparrow is among the cleanest of the clean. I have often watched the
young birds leaving the nest; and after their departure, have found it as
SONG SPARROW. 127
well fitted for the reception of a fresh set of eggs as the new nest which
the bird constructs. I am unable to understand the reason why a new
nest is formed. Can you, reader, solve the question ?
I have at all times been very partial to the Song Sparrow; for although
its attire is exceedingly plain, it is pleasing to hear it, in the
Middle States, singing earlier in spring, and later in autumn, than almost
any other bird. Its song is sweet, of considerable duration, and performed
at all hours of the day. It nestles sometimes on trees, and sometimes on
the ground. I have imagined that the old birds, finding by experience
the insecurity of their ordinary practice of nestling on the ground, where
the eggs are often devoured by Crows, betake themselves to the bushes
to conceal their nests from their enemies. But whatever may be the
reason, the fact certainly exists, and the nests of the Song Sparrow occur
in both kinds of situation. The nest for the first brood is prepared, and
the eggs laid, sometimes as early as the 15th of April. The young are
out by the first week of May. The third brood is seen by the middle of
September. The nest, when on the ground, is well sunk in the earth, and
is placed at the roots of tall grasses. It is made of fine grass, and lined
with hair, principally horse hair. The number of eggs is from five to
seven, usually from four to six, excepting those for the last brood, which
I have seldom found to exceed three. They are of a very broad ovate
form, light greenish-white, speckled with dark umber, the specks larger
toward the greater end. The male assists in the process of incubation,
during which one of the birds feeds the other in succession. At this time
the male is often to be observed singing on the top of a neighbouring
bush, low tree, or fence-rail.
The flight of the Song Sparrow is short, and much undulated, when
the bird is high in the air, but swifter and more level when it is near the
ground. They migrate by night, singly or in straggling troops. Some
of them remain the whole winter in the Middle Districts, where they are
not unfrequently heard to sing, if the weather prove at all pleasant. The
greater part, however, seek the Southern States, where myriads of Sparrows
of different kinds are everywhere to be seen in low swampy situations, such
as they at all periods prefer. It is a fine plump bird, and becomes very
flat and juicy. It is picked up in great numbers by the Hen-harriers,
which visit us for the purpose of feeding on the different kinds of Sparrows
that resort to these States in winter from the Middle Districts. In Louisiana,
they are frequently seen to ascend to the tops of large trees, and