SCOTT'S AND WAKULLA SEASIDE SPARROWS 839 



for the Atlantic Coast forms. Howell (1932) tells of his experiences 

 afield with peninsulae as follows: 



At the mouth of the Suwannee River, on a cold, windy day in January, the 

 bir Is stuck very close to the dense, matted marsh grass, and it took me an hour 

 and a half to flush three or four individuals, only one of which was collected. 

 During the breeding season, however, the males give frequent vent to their 

 springtime exuberance by ascending to the tops of the tallest rushes and rendering 

 their curious little song, then perhaps making a short flight before dropping into 

 the cover of the marsh. The song, though not loud, has considerable carrying 

 power. Heard at close range it begins with a faint click in the throat, then a 

 low throaty tone, followed by the song proper, which is of about two seconds' 

 duration, and consists of two, or sometimes three, notes slurred into one, ending 

 in a trill, this suggesting the finishing note of a Red-wing's song. 



At Port Richey, where we found the birds breeding abundantly, we collected 

 well-grown young on May 28, but failed to find any nests. At Elfers, June 2, 

 1929, Nicholson observed two nests, 6 and 14 feet above the ground in mangrove 

 trees. On that date the birds had hatched their first broods and only broken 

 egg shells were found in the nests. At the same locality, on May 31, 1931, Oscar 

 Baynard found a nest with 4 fresh eggs, 2>4 feet up in a tuft of "needle-grass" 

 (J uncus), and on June 2 and 11, several more nests were found in similar situations. 



Of his experiences with juncicola the same author writes : 



This race is very similar in its habits to Scott's Seaside, and inhabits the same 

 type of marsh, one in which there is a very heavy growth of Juncus. In some 

 places, as on St. Vincent Island, the birds were shy and difficult to approach, 

 while in other places, as at St. Marks Light and Rock Island, they were less 

 suspicious. At Rock Island they were found in the low growth of Salicornia as 

 well as in the tall rushes. At Goose Creek, Wakulla County, in January, the 

 birds were very numerous in the heavy stands of Juncus, and on sunny days 

 they gave utterance to numerous little squeaky, chippering songs. Even at that 

 date, a squeaking noise made on the back of the hand would often bring a bird 

 out of the cover, to fly rapidly toward the sound and alight on top of the rushes. 

 A nest noted near St. Mark's lighthouse. May 18, 1926, was placed in a thinly 

 grassed area of marsh, 22 inches above the ground in a small clump of rushes, 

 and contained three naked young and one egg. 



Donald J. Nicholson sent me the following notes on peninsulae: 

 "I have found these sparrows breeding in the marshes near Elfers 

 in Pasco County from early April to late June. They nest very 

 much as do all other seasides, usually in small, loose colonies, the 

 nests being at least 50 or more feet apart. They build a neat, open 

 cup of dead Juncus stems and grasses lined with either or both. 

 Nests I found concealed under drifts of dead vegetation left by high 

 tides on top of the tall Juncus also contained bits of a silvery, ribbon- 

 like white seaweed. 



"Most nests are well out in the marsh, only a few hundred feet 

 back from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, often where the water 

 was two or thi-ee feet deep and touched the bottom of the nests at 

 high tide. I also found nests here in mangroves as high as fourteen 



