What is "swamp sparrow"

Swamp \Swamp\, n. [Cf. AS. swam a fungus, OD. swam a sponge, D. zwam a fungus, G. schwamm a sponge, Icel. sv["o]ppr, Dan. & Sw. swamp, Goth. swamms, Gr. somfo`s porous, spongy.] Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the seashore. Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern. --Tennyson. A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only herbage, plants, and mosses. --Farming Encyc. (E. Edwards, Words). Swamp blackbird. (Zo["o]l.) See Redwing (b) . Swamp cabbage (Bot.), skunk cabbage. Swamp deer (Zo["o]l.), an Asiatic deer ( Rucervus Duvaucelli) of India. Swamp hen. (Zo["o]l.)

1. An Australian azure-breasted bird ( Porphyrio bellus); -- called also goollema.

2. An Australian water crake, or rail ( Porzana Tabuensis); -- called also little swamp hen.

3. The European purple gallinule.

   Swamp honeysuckle (Bot.), an American shrub ( Azalea viscosa syn. Rhododendron viscosa or Rhododendron viscosum) growing in swampy places, with fragrant flowers of a white color, or white tinged with rose; -- called also swamp pink and white swamp honeysuckle.

   Swamp hook, a hook and chain used by lumbermen in handling logs. Cf. Cant hook.

   Swamp itch. (Med.) See Prairie itch, under Prairie.

   Swamp laurel (Bot.), a shrub ( Kalmia glauca) having small leaves with the lower surface glaucous.

   Swamp maple (Bot.), red maple. See Maple.

   Swamp oak (Bot.), a name given to several kinds of oak which grow in swampy places, as swamp Spanish oak ( Quercus palustris), swamp white oak ( Q. bicolor), swamp post oak ( Q. lyrata).

   Swamp ore (Min.), bog ore; limonite.

   Swamp partridge (Zo["o]l.), any one of several Australian game birds of the genera Synoicus and Excalfatoria, allied to the European partridges.

   Swamp robin (Zo["o]l.), the chewink.

   Swamp sassafras (Bot.), a small North American tree of the genus Magnolia ( M. glauca) with aromatic leaves and fragrant creamy-white blossoms; -- called also sweet bay.

   Swamp sparrow (Zo["o]l.), a common North American sparrow ( Melospiza Georgiana, or M. palustris), closely resembling the song sparrow. It lives in low, swampy places.

   Swamp willow. (Bot.) See Pussy willow, under Pussy.

n. North American finch of marshy area [syn: Melospiza georgiana]

The swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) is a medium-sized sparrow related to the song sparrow.

Adults have streaked rusty, buff and black upperparts with an unstreaked gray breast, light belly and a white throat. The wings are strikingly rusty. Most males and a few females have a rust-colored caps. Their face is gray with a dark line through the eye. They have a short bill and fairly long legs. Immature birds and winter adults usually have two brown crown stripes and much of the gray is replaced with buff.

Swamp sparrows breed across the northern United States and boreal Canada. The southern edge of their breeding range coincides largely with the Line of Maximum Glaciation. A small number of morphologically distinct birds inhabit tidal marshes from northern Virginia to the Hudson River Estuary. This subspecies (M. g. nigrescens) winters in coastal marshes of the Carolinas and differs from the two inland swamp sparrow subspecies in having more black in a grayer overall plumage, larger bill, different songs, and a smaller average clutch size.

Their breeding habitat is marshes, including brackish marshes, across eastern North America and central Canada. The bulky nest is attached to marsh vegetation, often just above the ground or surface of the water with leaves or grass arching over the top. The female builds a new nest each year and lays an average of four eggs per clutch. Females give a series of chips as they leave the nest, probably to ward off attacks by their mate or neighboring males.

While swamp sparrows can be found year-round in small numbers on the southern edge of their breeding range, individuals are probably all migratory, primarily migrating to the southeastern United States.

Swamp sparrows generally forage on the ground near the water's edge, in shallow water or in marsh vegetation. In winter, their diet is principally fruit and seeds, while during the breeding season their diet is mainly arthropods.

The song of the swamp sparrow is a slow monotone trill, slower than that of the chipping sparrow. A male can have a repertoire of several different trills. The common call note is a loud chip reminiscent of a phoebe.

This bird's numbers have declined due to habitat loss in some parts of its range.