726 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 2 



than birds. D. W. Johnston (1949), who collected the first grass- 

 hopper sparrow in Idaho in 1947 in Latah County, writes (in litt.) 

 that "here, too, it seemed to me that the birds were not unduly rare, 

 although there had been much ornithological field work in the area 

 previously." 



The Florida grasshopper sparrow, A. s. fioridanus (Mearns), in- 

 habits the Kissimmee Prairie region. It was described in 1902 by 

 Edgar A. Mearns, who based his description on a pair of birds collected 

 on the Kissimmee Prairie near Alligator Bluff, Osceola County. Not 

 until a quarter-century later were additional specimens collected. 

 According to W. H. Nicholson (1936) its range begins at a point 20 

 miles southwest of St. Cloud and extends to Okeechobee City. D. J. 

 Nicholson writes that the center of abundance of the Florida grass- 

 hopper sparrow is "from 7 to 10 miles west of Kenansville, Osceola 

 County, Florida, on the Kissimmee Prairie to within 10 miles of 

 Bassenfer, Okeechobee County, Florida." The species does not 

 breed over all the area, but forms scattered colonies, sometimes 30 

 miles apart. 



An interesting situation occurs in the wide territorial gap between 

 the ranges of pratensis and fioridanus. David W. Johnston writes 

 that the species' absence from the coastal plain is difficult to account 

 for, as "much of this physiographic province has been converted to 

 grassland. My only explanation is historical, namely the possibility 

 that this species simply has not yet had time to invade or perhaps to 

 develop a physiological toleration of the climatic conditions there." 



Also isolated on its breeding area is the Arizona grasshopper 

 sparrow, A. s. ammolegus Oberholser. This race, described by 

 H. C. Oberholser (1942) from a series of breeding specimens collected 

 by Alex Walker in 1932, breeds in central southern Arizona, chiefly in 

 the Huachuca Mountain region. 



The grasshopper sparrow is a grassland bird, most plentiful in 

 managed grasslands and absent from fields with 35 percent of the 

 area in shrubs. They inhabit small grain fields to a limited extent, 

 but their densities in such areas are a fraction of those found in grass- 

 land. Johnston and Odum (1956) observe that the grasshopper 

 sparrow and the meadowlark {Sturnella magna) are the only true 

 grassland species of the Athens, Ga., area, and in fact of most of the 

 southeastern United States. Alden Miller (1951) writes that it is 

 confined exclusively to grassland formation in California. 



The eastern race appears to be most abundant on cultivated grass- 

 lands, particularly those containing orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata), 

 alfalfa (Medicago saliva), red clover (Tnfolium pratense), lespedeza 

 (Lespedeza spp.), all of which form the clumps the species seemingly 

 requires. Old fields of poverty grass {Danthonia spicata), dewberry 



