658 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEtIM BULLETIN 23 7 paut 2 



Alexander Wilson presumably mistook one for the male of the Sa- 

 vannah sparrow along the New Jersey coast. 



The complete winter range of the Ipswich sparrow was unknown 

 for many years, but by early 1890 specimens had been collected 

 intermittently southward to Glynn County, Ga. Its breeding ground 

 was not suspected until 1884, when eggs in the National Museum in 

 Washington, D.C., uniformly larger than those of the Savannah 

 sparrow and labeled Sable Island, July 1862, were believed by Robert 

 Ridgway to be those of the Ipswich sparrow. Shortly afterward, 

 C. Hart Merriam sent for and received a summer specimen of the 

 Sable Island "gray bird" from Rev. W. A. DesBrisay, resident 

 missionary there, which proved to be an Ipswich sparrow. 



Jonathan Dwight, Jr. (1895) arrived on Sable Island May 24, 

 1894, and studied the species' nesting behavior until June 14. Later 

 W. E. Saunders (1902a,b) visited there in May and made similar 

 observations. Apparently no further studies were made of the 

 summer behavior until I went to Sable Island in late July 1948. 



The Ipswich sparrow is unique in that its summer breeding ground 

 on Sable Island is less than 20 miles long, and its wintering range on 

 the mainland is more than 1,000 miles, although this coastal strip is 

 not over a few hundred feet wide in spots. A small segment of the 

 population, perhaps 20 percent, winters on Sable Island. 



This sparrow makes its winter home where the strong winds blow 

 flying beach sand over the hiUocks within the sound of the pounding 

 sea, and the grass-clumped sand dunes, humped in jumbled confusion, 

 parallel the shore line to the horizon. The search to find one may 

 take some time or be relatively short, because the birds vary in 

 numbers from year to year. Suddenly, with a seemingly efi'ortless 

 lifting of wings, a pale gray sparrow tosses itself aloft. The wind 

 catches it, and with rapid, erratic flight it passes over the waving 

 clumps of beach grass, or perhaps along a sandy gulch, to alight near 

 the top of a dune 100 or so yards away. The chase is on and, if 

 fortunate, one may arrive in time to see the quick-running bird 

 traveling a nearby slope, unless another low flight has taken it unseen 

 out of the neighborhood. A shght delay on the observer's part in 

 taking up immediate pursuit in windy weather usually requires a 

 renewed search, often unsuccessful. 



In calmer weather in winter, the Ipswich sparrow has the habit, 

 when not pursued too closely, of running along the sand. During 

 mild periods in fall it may perch on a weed stalk or on beach wreckage 

 and eye the observer momentarily before flying off. In late October 

 and early November the birds are often quite tame. 



Spring. — Roy Latham, at Orient, N.Y., says he has fewer records 

 during February in that area along the eastern end of Long Island 



