816 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 2 



western Minnesota. At one time, Nelson's sparrow was considered 

 specifically different from the eastern sharp-taU. 



Territory. — Nelson's sharp-tail is the only race of the species 

 occupying an exclusively fresh-water habitat in the breeding season. 

 In Kittson County in northwestern Minnesota, Breckenridge and 

 Kilgore (1929) describe its habitat as "extensive, swampy lakes 

 bordered here and there with strips of tamarack. Poplar thickets and 

 a few bits of prairie occupy the higher ground. A number of the 

 shallow lakes have been entirely overgrown with a more or less floating 

 layer of sphagnum and on this, wirey sedges are thriving so as to give 

 the uncertain expanse the appearance of a perfectly firm level 

 meadow." T. S. Roberts (1936) adds that they "inhabit wet, boggy 

 swamps where the water is ankle or knee deep." In North Dakota, 

 E. S. Rolfe (1899) finds them in short, scant grass on an alkahne flat, 

 formerly an arm of Devil's Lake. 



J. A. Munro (1929) found nelsoni at Beaver Hill Lake 50 miles east 

 of Edmonton, Alberta; he described this lake as fairly deep and 

 alkaline, the surrounding country either flat or slightly rolling, 

 mostly unbroken prairie sparsely dotted vsith clumps of willow and 

 poplar. The shoreline was of two types, a hard sand and a gumbo, 

 the latter covered with short grass and bog rush on the outer portion 

 and sedges on the land side with isolated areas of bulrush. Some of 

 the marshes of tide and bog rush appeared to be a sohd expanse but 

 were actually intersected with channels and isolated ponds with some 

 dry grassy islands. The sharp-tails were found in the tule beds. 



I visited Beaver Hill Lake in June 1964. The surrounding prairie 

 is now mostly farmland and much of the marshes are gone. Never- 

 theless I found Nelson's sharp-tails with little difficulty in the remain- 

 ing tule beds. They were singing steadily, even at mid-day. The 

 song was of the same pattern as that of A. c. caudacuta but seemed 

 shorter, more wheezy, and lower pitched. 



This race is relatively scattered over a wide geographical range and 

 is generaUy quite rare and local, so much so that W. J. Beecher (1955) 

 questioned the success of its adaptation to fresh water. He did not 

 describe any characteristic behavior traits, but N. S. Goss (1891) 

 writes: "They are very active, running about and climbing with ease 

 the stalks of grass or reeds, where they sway about, often head down- 

 ward, in their search for insect life and seeds." T. S. Roberts (1936) 

 describes its food as: "Seeds of various plants; bugs, midges, horse- 

 fhes, beetles, grasshoppers, etc." 



Breckenridge and Kilgore (1929) describe a nest at Twin Lake 

 near Karlstad, Minn., thus: "The meadow itself was covered with 

 about six inches of water but the nest was built just above the water 

 level where the soil though very damp, was free from standing water. 



