Field Sparrow (Spizella Pusilla) Finch Family
Called also: FIELD BUNTING; WOOD SPARROW; BUSH SPARROW

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.