(_Spizella pusilla_) Finch family
_Called also_: FIELD BUNTING; WOOD SPARROW; BUSH SPARROW
(Illustration facing p. 203)
_Length_--5.5 to 5.75 inches. A little smaller than the
English sparrow.
_Male_--Chestnut crown. Upper back bright chestnut, finely
streaked with black and ashy brown. Lower back more grayish.
Whitish wing-bars. Cheeks, line over the eye, throat, pale
brownish drab. Tail long. Underneath grayish white, tinged
with palest buff on breast and sides. Bill reddish.
_Female_--Paler; the crown edged with grayish.
_Range_--North America, from British provinces to the Gulf,
and westward to the plains. Winters from Illinois and Virginia
southward.
_Migrations_--April. November. Common summer resident.
Simply because both birds have chestnut crowns, the field sparrow is
often mistaken for the dapper, sociable chippy; and, no doubt because
it loves such heathery, grassy pastures as are dear to the vesper
sparrow, and has bay wings and a sweet song, these two cousins also
are often confused. The field sparrow has a more reddish-brown upper
back than any of its small relatives; the absence of streaks on its
breast and of the white tail quills so conspicuous in the vesper
sparrow's flight, sufficiently differentiate the two birds, while the
red bill of the field sparrow is a positive mark of identification.
This bird of humble nature, that makes the scrubby pastures and
uplands tuneful from early morning until after sunset, flies away with
exasperating shyness as you approach. Alighting on a convenient
branch, he lures you on with his clear, sweet song. Follow him, and he
only hops about from bush to bush, farther and farther away, singing
as he goes a variety of strains, which is one of the bird's
peculiarities. The song not only varies in individuals, but in
different localities, which may be one reason why no two
ornithologists record it alike. Doubtless the chief reason for the
amusing differences in the syllables into which the songs of birds are
often translated in the books, is that the same notes actually sound
differently to different individuals. Thus, to people in Massachusetts
the white-throated sparrow seems to say, "_Pea-bod-y, Pea-bod-y,
Pea-bod-y!_" while good British subjects beyond the New England border
hear him sing quite distinctly, "_Sweet Can-a-da, Can-a-da,
Can-a-da!_" But however the opinions as to the syllables of the field
sparrow's song may differ, all are agreed as to its exquisite quality,
that resembles the vesper sparrow's tender, sweet melody. The song
begins with three soft, wild whistles, and ends with a series of
trills and quavers that gradually melt away into silence: a serene and
restful strain as soothing as a hymn. Like the vesper sparrows, these
birds sometimes build a plain, grassy nest, unprotected by overhanging
bush, flat upon the ground. Possibly from a prudent fear of field-mice
and snakes, the little mother most frequently lays her bluish-white,
rufous-marked eggs in a nest placed in a bush of a bushy field. Hence
John Burroughs has called the bird the "bush sparrow."