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Song Sparrow — Part 1
Adult--Upper parts rich brown streaked with black, the head having a light gray line in the centre, either side of the crown being brown; throat and breast light gray, with brown marks which usually form an irregular blotch on the breast. Length--6.30.
Breeding Range--Throughout the Eastern States. "East of the Alleghanies, it breeds from South Carolina north to the British provinces."
The nest varies greatly both as to the materials used in its construction and to where it is placed; sometimes it is a bulky structure of coarse grass, weeds, leaves, and bark, lined with hair, being as much as two and a half inches deep inside, and then again it may be a flimsy, shallow affair made of grass and lined with fine grass; it is placed on the ground, in open fields or in woody places, or it is sometimes built in bushes as high as five feet from the ground. The eggs vary greatly, both as to colour and size, ranging from .76 to .85 in length and from .55 to .60 in diameter; the ground colour is white, sometimes tinged with green or blue, with irregular brownish blotches and markings, which in some cases nearly conceal the ground colour. See Fig. 4, Plate B.
The Song Sparrow shows a nature of such extraordinary adaptability to all sorts of conditions that in this one respect he proves himself to be a remarkable little character--a character very well worth studying. Everything about him is made and done with apparently but little regard to rules of any kind. Each season he rears an indefinite number of families, ranging from one to four. The nests are made in various sizes, of various materials, and built in any sort of place, from an old tin can to a hole in a tree, but usually either on the ground or in a bush; if on the ground it may be in a fine large breezy meadow, where the ground is dry, or on the top of a tussock in a swampy thicket.
The time for singing his familiar song varies greatly both as to hour and season; one must not be surprised if at any hour of the day or night his song is heard, whether it be on a bleak March day or when the trees have taken on the glories of the rich autumn colouring; time and place matter but little to this happy songster. Nesting beings about May Ist.