834 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 2 



the squeaking sound, I have seen these birds pop up all about, swinging 

 on the marsh stems and peering excitedly around. Close observation 

 is quite possible if one keeps perfectly still. I have a small dock over 

 a salt creek that makes in from the Inland Waterway. Sitting there 

 quietly I have had these sparrows feed, preen, and search about 

 within a few yards or even feet of me. 



Its flight is the usual "family" type, never for long distances, and 

 marked by a precipitate drop into the grass at its termination. 

 Audubon (1839) described it as performed "with apparently slow 

 beats of the wings," but I have always been impressed with quite 

 the reverse; the wings seem to be moved very rapidly, almost as to 

 constitute a blur, and strongly reminiscent of those of some heavy, 

 stout-bodied insect. The bird is often difficult to flush, and even if 

 one marks the exact spot of descent and makes for it immediately, it 

 is by no means certain that the bird will flush again. Upon alighting 

 the bird must often run some distance under the shelter of the grass, 

 and so elude the searcher. 



Voice. — The notes of the seaside sparrows are notoriously diflBcult 

 to transcribe into words. Audubon says macgillivraii's song impressed 

 him as being "impossible to imitate," and he describes it as "a sort 

 of roll of five or six syllables." My (1924) own description set down 

 when recording the discovery of the bird's nesting in South Carolina 

 was "The song is very peculiar, consisting of a sort of guttural roll, 

 heard only when the observer is very near the bird, then a short trill, 

 ending with a strange rasping buzz." Though the term "roll" is 

 somewhat indefinite, no other word seems to express the effect more 

 adequately. The song is often uttered in flight, the bird rising into 

 the air, then dropping down to just above the grass tops and leveling 

 off for varying distances, singing as it goes, before dropping suddenly 

 into the grass. 



The caU note might be translated as chip, but that gives little idea 

 of the note's distinctive inflection and tonal quality. It is doubtful 

 if the call of this subspecies can be differentiated from that of nominate 

 maritima. 



Fall and winter. — These seasons find macgillivraii in the great salt 

 marshes. The best times to observe them are when the full moon 

 forces the tides considerably above normal levels and floods the 

 marshes. The birds then throng along the edges of the highlands 

 and of islands in the marsh where they are easily seen. As Wayne 

 (1910) noted, they first appear back in the Carolina marshes in late 

 July, and they may be found there, usuaUy in loose flocks, until the 

 foUowing spring. Some southward movement takes place, for birds 

 of this race have been collected in winter as far down the coast as the 

 marshes of St. Johns County, Fla. 



