836 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 2 



About 15 years ago it was noticed that the birds stopped nesting on the south 

 side of the road that spHts this marsh, since this side had become thickly grown up 

 to Mangrove trees, and now on the northern side of the road the same changed 

 condition has also taken place and has driven out these Sparrows which apparently 

 cannot survive in marshes crowded by tree-growth * * *. 



A far more likely cause of their disappearance was the heavy spray- 

 ings with DDT to which these marshes and those along the Halifax 

 River northward to Daytona and Ormond Beach were repeatedly 

 subjected for mosquito control in the late 1940's and early 1950's. 

 Persistent searching by Charles H. Trost and myself since 1959 has 

 stUl failed to reveal any seaside sparrows breeding between Matanzas 

 Inlet and the dusky seaside colony on Merritt Island. Currently (1964) 

 the pelonota population occupies a spotty distribution scattered in the 

 few suitable marshes remaining from Matanzas Inlet northward some 

 70 miles to the Georgia-Florida boundary. 



Nesting. — We are indebted to D. J. Nicholson (1946) for the 

 following account of the nesting of these sparrows at New Smyrna, 

 where he, his brother Wray, and their friend Joseph C. HoweU, 

 Jr., often collected together. He wi-ites: 



As many as 40 occupied nests and as many old nests have been found in a 

 single day's hunt by the three of us. The nests are by no means easy to locate 

 and one can only imagine the true population of this New Smyrna colony. 



Twenty years ago the site in which they bred was mostly grown up to salicornia 

 and the scattered patches of salt marsh grass which bordered the edges of me- 

 andering streams, dotted with a few very young mangrove bushes. At that 

 time the vast majority of nests were to be found in the matted salicornia or in 

 salt marsh grass, with but an occasional nest being found in the small mangrove 

 bushes. But of recent years the marsh has gradually filled with great numbers 

 of mangrove bushes and trees now having grown to considerable size. * * * This 

 has caused a marked change in the former nesting habits of the seasides, which 

 now seem to prefer mangrove bushes and trees in which to build their neats, 

 placing them from a couple of feet to as high as 14 feet above the mud and water. 

 They still continue to nest in the matted salicornia which well conceals their 

 nests in this expansive marsh. * * * Nests placed in salt marsh grass are 

 frequently arched, but those in salicornia or in mangroves are not. 



Usually the nests are placed in a crotch of a young mangrove from two to 

 five feet from the mud. Sometimes they are built near the ends of the lower 

 branches among the ever-present jungle of salicornia which envelops every inch 

 of ground, shady or otherwise in the marsh. Beneath the mangroves, this 

 succulent plant grows luxuriantly and many nests are found in this growth in 

 the shade, and it also affords wonderful concealment. 



The nests are made entirely of dead marsh grass blades and stems which are 

 collected in a soggy condition, and the adhering sticky mud aids in binding the 

 nest securely as it dries. These nests are about the size of your closed fist, deeply 

 cupped to receive the three or four eggs * * *. 



Nesting usually begins in earnest about the middle of April but sometimes a 

 full set is found by the tenth of April. Nesting continues into August and there 

 is scarcely a day during the nesting period that eggs cannot be found. I have 

 found in different parts of a colony, little areas where most of the nests held 



