868 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 2 



and used the fill thus obtained to level up building lots at the very- 

 edge of the marshes inhabited by the sparrows. Another drag-line 

 is currently at work in the marsh behind the village. A carelessly 

 thrown cigarette could start a blaze that might destroy all the sparrow 

 colonies from the Immokalee road to the Turner River. 



Surely the preceding few paragraphs justify the "grave concern" 

 expressed at the start of this life history. However, with water 

 conservation work now in progress in the Everglades to counteract the 

 effects of drainage over the past 40 years, the Cape Sable sparrow's 

 habitat may yet in time revert to something near its condition in 

 predrainage days. I, for one, pray that the future will disprove my 

 present fear for the continued existence of this species. 



Distribution 



Range. — The Cape Sable sparrow is resident in southwestern 

 Florida from the Ochopee Marshes near Everglades southeast toward 

 the headwaters of Huston River and the mouth of Gum Slough to the 

 Shark River Basin ; formerly to Cape Sable. 



Egg dates. — Florida: 3 records, March 29 to May 21. 



POOECETES GRAMINEUS GRAMINEUS (Gmelin) 



Eastern Vesper Sparrow 



PLATE 49 



Contributed by Andrew J. Berger 



Habits 



Early American ornithologists called this species the bay-winged 

 bunting or the grass finch. According to T. S. Roberts (1932): 

 "It was John Burroughs who gave to this bird the inappropriate name 

 of Vesper Sparrow because he felt that its singing was sweeter and more 

 impressive toward evening, but its simple lay is by no means a vesper 

 song as it may be heard at all hours of the day." It is true that the 

 clear, far-carrying song of the vesper sparrow is perhaps more con- 

 spicuous in the still of warm summer evenings after most of the song 

 sparrows and field sparrows have stopped singing and when the Henslow's 

 sparrows begin in earnest to give forth with their short and improbable 

 song. But the vesper sparrow sometimes sings just as persistently 

 shortly after dawn on cold April days. 



George M. Sutton (IVIS.) writes: "Singing continues virtually all 

 day long during midsummer, though it is less fervent during the 

 middle of the day in very hot weather; it is especially brilliant on 

 calm evenings or just after a rain. On June 24, 1946, 1 heard the first 



