848 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 paut 2 



above the marsh and began to descend, he delivered more emphatic 

 tcherp-chee'-tcherp-chee' notes. He then pitched groundward as 

 steeply as he rose, with a series of buzzy ze-e-e-e-e-e notes that could 

 almost be syllabified as buzz-zz-Z2-zz-zz-zz. The entire performance 

 lasted but a few seconds, yet it took decidedly longer than the regular 

 song. Also the phrases were more clearly separated than those of 

 most songs delivered from perches. 



On April 15 the seaside sparrows, and the redwings and marsh 

 wrens as well, sang more or less regularly in the late hours of the 

 day. In almost any given minute, a song from at least one species 

 could be heard. After watching the sun go down at 6:20 p.m., 

 I heard blackbirds singing until about 6:40, marsh wrens until 6:46, 

 and the sparrows Red and UB, respectively, imtil 6 :45 and 6 :50, when 

 it was indeed dusk. 



Enemies. — }Aj limited experiences in Louisiana, together with an 

 examination of the literature, reveals very little regarding predators 

 of the T&ces Jlsheri and sennetti. In April 1960, I noted in the Grand 

 Isle marshes a number of ribbon snakes {Thamnophis sauritus) and 

 a great many tracks of raccoons {Procyon lotor). Either of these 

 animals might prey on marsh passerines to some extent. Stevenson 

 and Meitzen (1946) found the remains of a nestling seaside sparrow 

 in the nest of a white-tailed hawk (Buteo alhicavdatus) in Texas. 



Among other hazards that affect seaside sparrows are storms such 

 as hurricane Audrey, which blasted the southwest coast of Louisiana 

 in late June, 1957. Though such storms doubtless wreak havoc 

 among the seasides and other marshland dwellers, it is both interesting 

 and gratifying to read Newman's (1957) observation: "On Aug. 9 at 

 Grand Chenier, 8 Seaside Sparrow were quickly squeaked up at one 

 spot in the marsh that had been under 10 feet of water 6 weeks 

 before." 



Fall and winter. — Griscom (1948) states that "Jisheri is now proved 

 to be a permanent resident at all localities of record in Louisiana and 

 Texas." Among the evidence leading to this conclusion is Lowery's 

 note {in Griscom, 1944) : "I, too have never been convinced that 

 there is much shifting of populations in the winter. If such was [sic] 

 the case, there would certainly be areas that would be devoid of birds 

 at one season or another. On the contrary I have many colonies in 

 mind that I visit from time to time through the year, and the popula- 

 tions in these colonies never seem to vary numerically in the slightest." 

 Nor is there real proof of migration or vagrancy among members of 

 the race sennetti, as Griscom (1944, 1948) has brought out. If these 

 races do make limited migratory movements, they could best be 

 detected through banding studies or by observations of birds moving 



