558 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



spring ; the sides of the crown, as well as the dark markings on tlio back, 

 more intensified, and in greater contrast witli the ligliter ashy and olive 

 tints. 



H.VBITS. The Sharp-tailed Finch is one of the most striking and well- 

 characterized of land-birds, and as peculiar to tlie sea-shore as the Tringcc. 

 In habits it very closely resembles the whole fanuly of Waders in many 

 striking respects. Like them it feeds upon small crustaceans and minute 

 marine insects, keeping about the water's edge, walking upon the floating 

 weeds and other substances raised liy the tide, prel'erring this mode of life 

 to a more inland residence, and only resorting to the uplands to feed upon 

 the seeds of grasses and sedges when their food fails them at the water's 

 edge. 



Dr. (.'ones is of the opinion that this bird does not breed in the neighbor- 

 hood of IJeaufort, N. C, and that it leaves for the North iu jNIay, having 

 a more nortliern habitat than A. maritima. He does not coincide with tliose 

 who detect a resemblance between the actions of the Ammoclrami and of 

 the Sandpipers. He thiids-s tlie manner in which they climb the reeds, slide 

 up and down, and hang from tliem in various attitudes, is more like that 

 of Nuthatches and Titnuce. On the ground they seem to him unmistakably 

 sparrow-like. 



This Sharp-tailed Fincli is abundant along the Coasts of Connecticut and 

 Rhode Island, and is also found in jNIassachusetts, though sparingly, and only 

 in a few congenial localities. In the marshes of Charles liivcM', near Boston, 

 this species is occasionally common in tlie breeding-season. In the summer 

 of 1869, Mr. H. W. Henshaw found quite a number of their nests. Mr. 

 Maynard has also taken it among the marshes of Ii^swich, which is probably 

 about its extreme northern limit. It has not, so far as I am aware, been 

 traced to Maine. In these localities it probably raises two broods in a sea- 

 son, as it appears there in May, and remains until into October. They are 

 eminently terrestrial, run on the ground like mice, are difficult to flush, and 

 can only be shot while on the wing. Tiiey lie close to the ground, and con- 

 ceal them.selves in the grass. 



They are also very numerous in the marshes in the neighborhood of New 

 York, and especially so in New Jersey, breeding along tliat coast to Cape 

 JIay. How much farther south than this they are found I cannot state, but 

 I did not meet with any at Cape Charles, where the maritivius was very 

 abundant. 



In the winter this species is found in largo flocks along the shores of South 

 Carolina and Georgia. jMr. Audul)on, however, diil not find any in Florida. 

 In the marshes near Charleston they are found in immense flocks, so much 

 so that Audubon has known of forty being killed at a single shot. They 

 search in the sedgy marshes for their food when the tide is out, and, on the 

 approach of the returning waters, retreat to the higher shores and to the 

 rice embankments. 



