LOUISIANA AND TEXAS SEASIDE SPARROWS 847 



UB, came in \vith food in his bill as if he intended to feed the young. 

 Apparently ho did not succeed, for Yellow chased him away twice for 

 distances of 15 to 20 feet, uttering as she did so a series of subdued 

 husky tchurt-tchurt-tchurt-tchitrt notes, softer, sHghtly higher pitched, 

 and more rapidly delivered than her chut notes. 



When I revisited Red's and Yellow's territory April 29 both parents 

 continued to give chut and also higher-pitched zeet notes from time to 

 time. The nest was empty, and I saw Yellow feed the short-tailed 

 fledglings in the salt grass at several different places on the territory. 

 I saw neither Red nor UB, who by that time occupied a large part of 

 the territory, feed the young, though either may have done so. 



Food. — ^According to Oberholser (1938), "the food of this bird reflects 

 the character of its habitat — marine worms, crustaceans, dragonflies, 

 grasshoppers, moths, beetles, bugs, and spiders, with some mollusks." 

 Howell (1928) provides a not dissimilar list, including also crickets, 

 caterpillars, flies, wasps, small crabs, and some weed and grass seeds. 



Voice. — Kopman (1915) after stating that the Louisiana seaside 

 sparrow is "an extremely abundant breeder in all tidewater marshes," 

 reports having "seen scores at a time in the rushes and marsh grasses, 

 perched just below the level of the grass tops, delivering in more or 

 less regular concert their strange monotonous songs. The usual song 

 sounds like 'te-dunk-chee-e-e-e.' Sometimes the trill alone is given." 

 Lowery (1955) says: "The notes have been perfectly described by 

 Peterson as cvtcut, zhe'-eeeeeiee." At Grand Isle I jotted down various 

 renditions from thk-ze-e-e-e-e-e to zeee-chrejd-ze-e-e-e-e-e, there being 

 one, two, or even three not always distinct syllables preceding the 

 buzzy ze-e-e-e-e. 



Red and other males sang perched in grass, rush, sedge, or man- 

 grove at heights of one to three or more feet. As they utter each 

 song they stretch the head and neck up perceptibly, but point the 

 bill only slightly upward. Usually singing birds stand fairly erect 

 with the feet close together, but occasionally they sing while straddling 

 between two adjoining branches or grass stems. Sometimes they 

 hold the tail drooped, and sometimes erect at a 50- or GO-degree 

 angle from the back. I once recorded 12 songs per minute for Red, 

 and 15, 16, and 18 per minute for UB. Within a given minute-long 

 period an individual's song tended to be a bit irregular. Various 

 circumstances interrupt the males' singing now and then, including 

 the birds' need to forage intermittently. 



I heard comparatively elaborate flight songs at irregular intervals 

 and at various times of the day. In a typical one I witnessed about 

 10 a.m. April 16 Red suddenly flew up from the grass in a steep climb 

 of about 70 to 80 degrees, uttering a very high-pitched see-see-sce-see- 

 see-see as he rose. Wlien he reached the summit some 15 to 20 feet 



646-737— 68— pt. 2 17 



