NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 303 



the Atlantic coast from North Carolina northward, and it is commonly 

 found associated in the same places with the Sea-side Finch, A. mari- 

 timus. They keep closely in the shelter of the rank salt reeds and 

 herbage, where the nest is built. This is fastened to the sedges and 

 composed of grasses, lined with finer material of the same. The 

 nesting season is in May and June, and a second set of eggs may be 

 found in July. While the nidification of this species and the Seaside 

 Finch is essentially the same, Mr. Shick states that on the New 

 Jersey coast, the nest of the Sharp-tail is not built so bulky as that of the 

 former. Both species are common in the salt marshes at the mouths 

 of creeks and rivers along the Atlantic coast. 



Mr. Norris has a typical set of four eggs of the Sharp-tailed 

 Sparrow taken by Hon. John N. Clark, near Old Saybrook, Connecti- 

 cut, at the mouth of the Connecticut River. The nest was in the 

 salt grass of a wet meadow ; the eggs were fresh, brownish-white, 

 varying to greenish-white, thickly sprinkled and speckled with tawny- 

 brown, sizes: .75X.58, .76 x .57, .76x.58, .8ox.56. The eggs are 

 also said not to be readily distinguishable from some examples of the 

 Savannah Sparrow. 



550. Ammodramus maritimus (WILS.) [202.] 



Seaside Sparrow. 



Hab. Salt marshes of the Atlantic States, from Massachusetts south to those bordering Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



The Seaside Finch is a common species in the salt marshes of the 

 Atlantic coast from Connecticut southward. Its nests and eggs are 

 identical with those of the last species, only, as already stated, in 

 speaking of the Sharp-tailed species the nest is more bulky. It is carefully 

 concealed in clumps of salt grass and quite neatly built of grasses, 

 lined with fine material. In exceptional instances the nests have been 

 found "arched over." 



The largest set of eggs Mr. Shick ever found on the New Jersey 

 coast was seven, but the usual numbers are four or five five being the 

 more common. Their ground-color is greenish or brownish-white, 

 thickly speckled with umber-brown, and are not with certainty dis- 

 tinguishable from those of the last species. The sizes of a set of five 

 eggs taken by Mr. Shick at Sea Isle City, New Jersey, May 21, 1887, are 

 as follows : .70 x .56, .75 x .56, .74 x .55, .73 x .55, .71 x .54. A set of four 

 in Mr. Norris' cabinet: .78 x .61, .81 x .62, .79 x .61, .80 x .56. 



552. Chondestes grammacus (SAY.) [204.] 



Lark Sparrow. 



Hab. Mississippi Valley, west to the Plains, east to Ohio, north to Michigan and south to Eastern 

 Texas, Louisiana, etc.; accidental near the Atlantic coast. 



Throughout the Mississippi Valley the Lark Finch is found breed- 



