BIRDS OF KANSAS. 449 



pouring out his little soul in a tiny, husky, double note, like 

 "Reese, reese." This is so thin and weak as to be inaudible 

 at thirty yards, yet in uttering it he seems to labor hard, his 

 beak being wide open and pointed straight up to the zenith; he 

 delivers it with such unction that afterwards he seems quite ex- 

 hausted and sits very still until at length the fit comes on again, 

 as it is sure to do in about ten seconds." 



Yery little is known with certainty in regard to its nesting 

 habits and eggs. Ridgway, in his "Manual," states that they 

 nest in damp or marshy meadows. Eggs about .75x.50; 

 speckled or spotted sparsely on larger end with brown and black 

 (sometimes thickly speckled or sprinkled with brown). 



Subgenus AMMODRAMUS Swainsox. 

 Crown without distinct median stripe. Nest on or near ground, in marshes, 

 supported between upright stalks of sedges or coarse grasses (sometimes in low 

 bushes), composed of dried grasses or sedges, the entrance occasionally through 

 one side. Eggs three to five; whitish, speckled or spotted with brown. {Bidg- 

 tcay.) 



Ammodramus caudacutus nelsoni Allen. 



NELSON'S SPARROW. 

 PLATE XXVII. 



Summer resident; rare. Arrive the last of April to first of 

 May; probably commence laying about the last of May; latest 

 seen October lith; no doubt occasionally remain into No- 

 vember. 



B. . E. 201a. C. 241. G. 101, 231. U. 549a. 



Habitat. Eastern United States, chiefly in the Mississippi 

 valley; east during migration to the fresh water marshes of the 

 Atlantic coast. 



Sp. Char. Adult: Pileum bluish gray or olive gray medially, umber brown 

 laterally, the lateral stripes more' or less streaked with black. A broad super- 

 ciliary stripe, deep ochraceous, connected behind the auriculars with a broad 

 maxillary stripe of the same color. Auriculars grayish, with a dusky line along 

 upper edge, connecting with a distinct black streak beneath hinder part of the 

 ochraceous superciliary stripe. Scapulars and interscapulars bright olive brown, 

 the outer webs broadly edged with grayish white, separated from the brown by 

 a blackish line. Tertials dusky, bordered with rusty whitish or pale rusty. 

 Rump uniform olive brown. Rectrices light raw umber brown, darker along 

 shafts. Chin, throat, breast, sides, flanks and crissum ochraceous, the jugulum, 

 breast, sides and flanks streaked with dusky, {liidyicmj.) 



