In regard to their song, Mr. William Brewster informs me that they usually commence singing about the 25th of March. Their song is a loud, clear, and powerful chant, starting with two high notes, then falling rapidly, and ending with a low, sweet warble. He has heard a few singing with their full vigor in November and December, but this is rare.
Dr. Coues found them not common in South Carolina, but Dr. Kennerly states that they were quite abundant in December on the Little Colorado, in New Mexico, feeding on the fruit of the wild grape and upon seeds.
During the love-season the Tree Sparrow is quite a fine musician, its song resembling that of the Canary, but finer, sweeter, and not so loud. In their migrations, Mr. Audubon states, a flock of twenty or more will perch upon the same tree, and join in a delightful chorus. Their flight is elevated and graceful, and in waving undulations. On opening the stomachs of those he shot at the Magdeleine Islands, Mr. Audubon found them containing minute shell-fish, coleopterous insects, hard seeds, berries, and grains of sand.
Nests obtained near Fort Anderson confirm the descriptions given by Mr. Hutchins, as observed in the settlement at Hudson’s Bay. The eggs, which are much larger than those of the other species of _Spizella_, measure .85 by .65 of an inch. Their ground-color is a light green, over which the eggs are very generally freckled with minute markings of a foxy brown. These markings are distributed with great regularity, but so sparsely as to leave the ground distinctly visible.
_Fringilla pusilla_, WILSON, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 121, pl. xvi, f. 2.—LICHT. Verzeich. Doubl. 1823, No. 252.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 299, pl. cxxxix. _Spizella pusilla_, BONAP. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 480.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 473.—SAMUELS, 319. _Emberiza pusilla_, AUD. Syn. 1839, 104.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 77, pl. clxiv. _Spinites pusillus_, CAB. Mus. Hein. 1851, 133. _Fringilla juncorum_, NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 499 (2d ed.,) 1840, 577 (supposed by him to be _Motacilla juncorum_, GMELIN, I, 952; _Sylvia juncorum_, LATHAM, Ind. II, 511; _Little Brown Sparrow_, CATESBY, Car. I, 35).
SP. CHAR. Bill red. Crown continuous rufous-red, with a faint indication of an ashy central stripe, and ashy nuchal collar. Back somewhat similar, with shaft-streaks of blackish. Sides of head and neck (including a superciliary stripe) ashy. Ear-coverts rufous. Beneath white, tinged with yellowish anteriorly. Tail-feathers and quills faintly edged with white. Two whitish bands across the wing-coverts. Autumnal specimens more rufous. Length about 5.75; wing, 2.34.