Zonotrichia albicollis
Order Passeriformes
Family Passerellidae
Adult.— Crown black, with a white stripe through the centre; a broad white stripe over each eye, ending in a yellow line before the eye; back and wings rich reddish-brown; wing-bars white; a square white throat-patch bounded by ash-gray; breast pale-gray; belly white; sides of belly brownish; tail brown, with no tawny tinge.
Immature.— Crown dark brown; stripe through middle of crown very faint; line over eye dull buffy; yellow before eye dull; throat-patch grayish-white.
Nest, placed either on the ground, or in low bush.
Eggs, heavily spotted with pinkish-brown.
The White-throated Sparrow is a common summer resident of the Canadian Zone, wherever balsam firs grow. In southern and central New York and New England it is a common migrant in late April and early May, and again in late September and through October. A few White-throats winter in southern New England and in the lower Hudson Valley, finding shelter in piles of brush, or the edges of marshes. In migration they frequent dry roadside thickets, or shrubbery, where they scratch for food on the ground, or fly when startled into the neighboring trees. In the breeding season they prefer overgrown clearings, where raspberry-bushes grow breast high among fallen trees, or the swampy forests of balsam fir. Their song is perhaps the most noticeable sound in the northern woods, and oftenest attracts the attention of a beginner; it is easily imitated by whistling, and has been variously rendered as Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody, or Sow wheat, Peeverly, Peeverly, Peeverly; in fact it is often called the Peabody-bird. The song is often attempted in the fall, but is rarely clear and true at that time. Even in summer it often drops on the second triplet to a flatted note. The alarm-note is a brisk metallic chip; this note is also used in the dusk when the birds are settling for the night. Another note is a sst similar to the lisp of the Song Sparrow and the Fox Sparrow.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)