960 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 paet 2 



positive statement that all nests of A. a. bachmani are domed and 

 cylindrical, while the nests of the Florida race (A. a. aestivalis) are 

 "not arched over * * * in any way, perfectly round, with the 

 sides and rims everywhere of equal height * * *." But writers 

 throughout the range of Bachman's sparrow describe both open nests 

 and domed nests and sometimes an open nest with one edge noticeably 

 higher than the other. The open nests described far outnumber those 

 of the domed type. In my own experience, of the very few nests that 

 I have found some were open and some domed, and I cannot now 

 recall a preponderance of either type. The one point on which aU 

 writers agree is that the nest is invariably built on the ground, usually 

 concealed under a low bush or against a tussock of grass. 



Nests are constructed of weed stems and various grasses, which are 

 coarse in the body and fine in the hning. Several observers mention 

 having found a few horse hairs in the nest lining, one mentions cattle 

 hair, and one a few strands of corn silk, but in most nests the lining is 

 of fine grasses only. 



The actual process of nest building has been witnessed by very few 

 observers. Fred M. Jones (1940), \vriting from southwestern Virginia, 

 describes a domed nest that he saw under construction in his yard only 

 50 feet from his dwelling. Incidentally, he states that this was the 

 only domed nest of a dozen or more that he had found in the neighbor- 

 hood, and even this "was not in the same class as Ovenbh-ds' nests." 

 His attention was first attracted by seeing a Bachman's sparrow with 

 a mouthful of grass fly to a spot under a walnut tree. A search of the 

 place revealed only a typical field sparrow nest, located some 6 inches 

 off the ground. Later, after having seen the Bachman's sparrow make 

 a number of trips to the same spot, he succeeded in finding her nest. 

 It was on the ground under a small limb that had fallen from the tree 

 and was situated only 12 inches from the field sparrow's nest. 



The foregoing account well illustrates the difRcidty of finding a nest 

 of this species, even though this one had been almost "pin-pointed" 

 by the building bird. Most writers on the subjecL agree that the nest 

 of the Bachman's sparrow is in the same category (so far as difficulty of 

 detection is concerned) as the nests of grasshopper and Savannah 

 sparrows. Neither John J. Audubon nor John Bachman ever suc- 

 ceeded in finding a nest. 



WiUiam G. Fargo (1934) quotes Walter Hoxie in a statement that 

 is, in the experience of all other observers, at least open to question: 

 "In the summer he [the Bachman's sparrow] and the Pine-woods have 

 the same habit of singing to the brooding mate from some elevated 

 perch and looking down at her where she is on the nest. So, to the 

 initiated it is a dead 'give away' of the situation of their home on the 

 ground among the dense cover which otherwise it is almost impossible 



