GRASSHOPPER SPARROW 



169 



bird-songs, two syllables, flee'-sic, delivered almost as one. 

 The. notes are sharp and carry a long distance, nor do they 

 sound much more penetrating when one is almost upon the 

 singer as he crouches on a low bush or plant. Like several 

 of its relatives, the Henslow's Sparrow prefers, when dis- 

 turbed, to hide silently in the grass, or to fly but a few rods 

 and then drop into the grass, where it runs or squats. Its 

 narrowly streaked breast and the absurdly large beak 

 should identify it. 



Grasshopper Sparrow. Coturniculus savannarum 



passerinus 



5.38 



Ad. — Upper parts streaked with black, rich chestnut, and gray; 

 line through the crown buff; under parts huffy, unstreaked. Im. — 

 Breast spotted with blackish. 



Nest, on the ground. Eggs, white, spotted with reddish-brown. 



The Grasshopper Sparrow is a common summer resident 

 of southern New England and the lower Hudson Valley, 

 but is rare in most of 

 Massachusetts ; in New 

 Hampshire, it is found 

 only here and there in 

 or near the valleys of 

 the Connecticut and the 

 Merrimac, and in Maine 

 it does not occur. It is 

 common in certain sec- 

 tions of Massachusetts, 

 as on the dry, sterile fields of Nantucket, or the extensive 

 plains in the Connecticut and Sudbury valleys, where the 

 ground is sandy and the grass not too luxuriant. The bird 

 arrives late in April or early in May, and remains till Sep- 

 tember. 



It utters its insect-like song from some tall weed or low 





Fig. 50. Grasshopper Sparrow 



