WATKINS ON BIRDS THAT NEST IN MEADOWS. 75 



and composed of coarse grasses and the leaves and shreds torn from the 

 surrounding flags. The four eggs are light blue, with a slaty tinge, 

 splashed, spotted and penciled with black, brown and purple, especially 

 about the larger end. The young are fed largely with insects, those 

 species found about the water, which are of little if any harm to us, 

 being most taken, while the adults feed almost entirely upon wild seeds 

 and grains when they can be obtained and are frequently of great damage 

 to the farmer. As is the case with every species possessed of grain 

 eating tendencies, it is apparently of little damage until the young are 

 fledged and all are gathered together preparatory to their migration 

 south. The red-winged blackbird is of doubtful reputation, probably 

 just about paying for its board. We will at present give him the generous 

 benefit of the doubt. 



Henslow's Sparrow, Ammodmmus henslowi, is a rare species with us 

 excepting in a few restricted localities. Its habits are little known from 

 study in this State. It is an inhabitant of the marsh lands, preferably 

 such as bear an open growth of short, shrubby plants, called locally 

 with us 'mard hack" (Potentilla fruticosa). Its flight and habits are much 

 as in the case of the Grasshopper Sparrow, to which it is closely related, 

 being, however, much more shy and less easily seen. I have taken in all, 

 six specimens of Henslow's Sparrow, all at or near Fairview farm at 

 Watkins Station, Mich. Three of them are now in my collection, one is 

 at Lake Forest University, Illinois, one at the Indiana Academy of 

 Science, in charge of Amos W. Butler of Brookville, that State, and the 

 other taken to Ann Arbor by Mr. A. B. Covert, presumably in the collec- 

 tions of the University of Michigan. Mr* Covert took a specimen of this 

 species at Pittsfield Junction, on the Ann Arbor & Lake Shore rail- 

 ways, I believe in the spring of 1894. The nest is not distinguishable from 

 those of other sparrows, situated usually in a tuft of grass and composed 

 of dry grasses. It was my good fortune to have the pleasure of recording 

 the first nest of Henslow's Sparrow, reported from Michigan, (See The 

 Nidiologist, Vol. 1, No. 12.) It was found late in May, and contained five 

 eggs of a bluish-white, speckled with reddish-brown. Mr. Arnold, of 

 Battle Creek, tells me that another nest of this species has been taken 

 near Pine Lake, east of Lansing. 



Of the species which might be included among the nesters of the open 

 marshes, but which usually at least select the more wet or bushy ground 

 are: Short-eared Owl, Asio accipitrinus, Maryland Yellowthroat, Geo- 

 tlilypis trichas, Swamp Sparrow, Melospiza georgiana, Long-billed Marsh 

 Wren, Cistothorus palustris, Short-billed Marsh Wren, Cistothorus stcllaris, 

 King Rail, Rallus elegans, Mallard, Anas boschas, aud Sandhill Crane, 

 Grus mexicana. 



In the list of meadow nesters of which I have spoken, we find of the 

 various orders, as follows: 



Herodiones (cranes, herons, bitterns, etc.), one. 



Limicolre (waders), two. 



Gallina? (scratchers — quail, grouse, etc.), two. 



ColumbaB (doves), one. 



Raptores (birds of prey), one. 



Passeres (perchers proper — sparrows, thrushes, etc.), eleven. 



Total, eighteen species. 



