540 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



black stripes. The l)ro;ul lateral stripes of the erown are deep olive or hair- 

 brown, with narrow, sharply delined, intense black streaks, instead of pale 

 grayish as in alaudinus (spring dress), or ligiit brown as in savaniui (spring), 

 with broader, less deep, black streaks. 



Habits. The Shore Sparrow of California is said to be, to a remarkalde 

 degree, the peculiar marsh species of the Pacific coast of that State. Dr. 

 Cooper states that he very rarely met with these birds out of the salt marshes, 

 where they lie so close and run so stealthily among the weeds that they are 

 flushed with difficulty. They rise only to fly a few rods, and drop again 

 into their covert. They are not at all gregarious, except when migrating, and 

 are found singly or by pairs. They are abundant aliout San Francisco in the 

 winter, though Dr. Cooiier is not sure that any are found so far south in the 

 summer. Near Sau Diego, in February, they ha<l already begun to utter 

 their short and plea.sant song, as they perched on the top of some tall weed. 

 Dr. Cooper observed tliem in that neighborhood into A])ril, but did not 

 succeed in finding any of their nests, nor was he ever able to meet with this 

 species at San Pedro in summer. 



Dr. Coues speaks of (Ibis, 1866, p. 268) finding three species of the diffi- 

 cult group of Pasfserculi, and all of them very abundant, in Southern Califor- 

 nia in November. These were P. rostratus, P. ulaudlnus, and P. anihinm. 

 The anthiniis seemed confined to the moist salt grass and sedgy weeds of the 

 sea-shore itself. It was flushed with great difficulty, and then its flight was 

 very rapid and irregular. It would alight again almost immediately, and run 

 with great celerity among the roots of the thick grasses, and was therefore 

 e.xceedingly difficult to procure. P. alaudinus was common two or three 

 miles away from the coast, but Dr. Coues did not find one mixing with 

 P. anlJdiiits. It was a brush and weed, rather than a grass, species, a.s.sociating 

 with Anthus ludovicianus and Zonotrichia coronafa. 



Passerculus princeps, Maynard. 



IPSWICH SPAKROW. 



Ccntronyx bairdi, Matnaui), Niitiiralist'.s Guide, 1870, 117, frontispiece (Ipswich, Mass.). 

 Passerculus priiiceps, Maynaud, Aiiiericsiii Naturalist, 1S72. 



Sp. CiiAH. Bill snialf, cxncUy the same in form and size a.<! that of Centronyx hairdi, 

 but proportionaily smaller ; tertials scarcely exceeding the secondaries ; tail emarpinate, 

 the feathers acute, the intermedia; attenuated termmally. Outstretched feet reacliing 

 about half-way to the end of the tail. In color almost exactly like P. rostratus, but dif- 

 ferent in markings. Above light ashy, the dorsal feathers light sandy-brown centrally, 

 producing an oljsoletely spotted appearance ; shafts of dorsal feathers black. Outer sur- 

 fiice of tlie wings pale sandy-brown, the feathers darker centrally ; tertials with their 

 outer webs \vhiti.<h, and with a con.spiouous black central area. Crown becoming darker 

 brown anteriorl}', where it is divided by a i-ather indistinct line of ochraceous-white ; an 

 indistinct siiperciliary stripe, and a very con.^picuous nia.\illary stripe of the same; the 

 latter bordered above, from the rictus to the end of the auriculars, by a narrow stripe of 



