810 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 2 



Alabama. They are gregarious in winter and Audubon (1841) said 

 of them in South CaroHna: "I have observed thousands * * * in late 

 December, and so numerous are they, that I have seen more than 

 40 * * * killed with one shot." A. T. Wayne (1910) considered 

 this race the most abundant around Charleston, S.C. Sprunt and 

 Chamberlain (1949) wrote: "They are tidal to the extent that they 

 live in the marsh until forced out by the rising tides; then they con- 

 gregate along the shorelme, on the back beaches of the islands, on 

 the spoU banks of the Inland Waterway or along the edges of the 

 mainland. An observer walking along the rim of such places at 

 high water will flush them by the score." 



A. H. Howell (1932) considered them common in northern Florida 

 south to Mosquito Inlet on the east coast and to Tampa Bay on the 

 west, and commented that they are practically silent in winter. The 

 appearance of this race on the west coast of Florida, substantiated 

 by many specimens I have examined, is the only evidence that it 

 ever makes a regular overland flight. The scarcity of records from 

 southern Florida suggests these individuals cross over 100 or more 

 miles of land to reach the Gulf Coast. 



A few straggling individuals attempt to winter in favorable marshes 

 north to Massachusetts and have been recorded regularly in recent 

 years on Christmas counts from Cape Cod southward. It is to be 

 doubted, however, that many of these birds survive until spring, at 

 least in New England, as February and March records are few and 

 far between. I have personally found sharp-tails on Cape Cod in 

 January and then failed in mid -March to locate them in an intensive 

 search of the same marshes. 



Distribution 



Range. — Coastal marshes from southern Maine to southern and 

 western Florida. 



Breeding range. — The eastern sharp-tailed sparrow breeds locally 

 in salt marshes of the Atlantic coast from southern Maine (Scar- 

 borough) south to coastal New Jersey (south to near Tuckerton); 

 extends to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket County off the coast of 

 Massachusetts. 



Winter range. — Winters in coastal marshes from southern New 

 Jersey (Cape May) south to northern and western Florida (Mosquito 

 Inlet, St. Vincent Island, Tampa Bay region) and southern Alabama; 

 casually to Miissachusetts (Barnstable) and southern Florida (Cape 

 Sable). 



Migration. — The data apply to the species as a whole. Early 

 dates of spring arrival are: Pennsylvania — State College, May 6. 

 New Jersey — Cape May, March 31. New York — New York City 



