song sparrow

a small emberizine songbird, Melospiza melodia, common in North America.

Origin of song sparrow

An Americanism dating back to 1800–10

February 24—The bluebird, "angel of the spring," arrives; also the song-sparrow.

Birds and All Nature, Vol. V, No. 4, April 1899 |Various
From a bush near by a song-sparrow flung a note of spring across the meadow.

Tom Grogan |F. Hopkinson Smith
It is rather a gentle song, though to be heard at some distance, carrying quite as far as that of the song-sparrow.

Cornell Nature-Study Leaflets |Various
His head was encircled with a chaplet made of the feathers of the song-sparrow and the red-headed-woodpecker.

Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 3) |James Athearn Jones

His song is not so brisk and varied as that of the Song-Sparrow, being softer and wilder, sweeter and more plaintive.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 91, May, 1865 |Various

song sparrow

a common North American finch, Melospiza melodia, having brown-and-white plumage and a melodious song