. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . BIRDS OF FIELD AND (GARDEN. 299 Song Sparrow. Ground Sparrow. Ground Bird. Melospiza cinerca mclodia. Length. —About six and one-half inches. Adult Male.—Above, brown; the back streaked with a darker shade; top ofhead reddish-brown, mottled with blackish streaks; a streak of light graythrough center of crown and one over the eye; a dark line through eyeand two on the lower j
. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . BIRDS OF FIELD AND (GARDEN. 299 Song Sparrow. Ground Sparrow. Ground Bird. Melospiza cinerca mclodia. Length. —About six and one-half inches. Adult Male.—Above, brown; the back streaked with a darker shade; top ofhead reddish-brown, mottled with blackish streaks; a streak of light graythrough center of crown and one over the eye; a dark line through eyeand two on the lower jaw; breast and sides whitish, spotted with darkbrown, the spots usually massed in the center of breast, where they form alarge spot or cluster; tail rounded and rather long. Nest. — Usually on ground or in bush, rarely in tree. EfJffs. — Whitish, endlessly varied with browns. Sea.^oti. — Resident, but not common in Fig-. 131. —Song SpaiTow,aliout two-thirds naturalsize. Few birds are l)etter known than the Song Sparrow, andfew are better friends to man. Those who do not know thebird will recoo-nize it as the sweet sino^er of March andApril, with a large blotch in the middleof its spotted breast. It prefers moistland near water, and may be foundalono- the banks of brooks and theshores of ponds or rivers. The nestis often sunk in the sloping bank ofsome brook or ditch. According toThoreau, its song, as expressed by thecountry people, runs thus: ]\Iaids!maids I maids ! hang on your tea-kettle-ettle-ettle. It has a charac-teristic clteuli, evidently an alarm note, and several othernotes. The Song Sparrow is at home in rich, moist gardens, andfeeds among crops like cabbage and celer}^ which are oftenraised on lowlands. It is destructive to cabbage plant liceand cutworms. It eats some caterpillars of the gipsy moth,the brown-tail moth, and several of the hairless pests amongthe Geometrids. Leaf hopp
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