LE CONTE'S SPARROW 773 



160 acres in extent, entii'ely overgrown with iron-weeds (Vernonia 

 noveboracensis) mixed with occasional patches of prairie grasses — the 

 only part of the prairie not under cultivation. They were found, 

 however, almost everywhere, gi'assy places being most affected. In 

 flushing them it was almost necessary to kick them from the grass, 

 and it was very rarely one would start up farther in front than a 

 dozen feet. Their flight, like that of C. henslowi, was very irregular 

 making it difficult to shoot them * * * ." 



Winter. — In winter Le Conte's sparrow is as hard, perhaps even 

 harder to find than at any other season. In Georgia, where the type 

 specimen was taken, T. D. Burleigh (1958) considers it "a scarce 

 winter resident thi'oughout the state" as well as "one of the least- 

 known birds in the state," collected there on fewer than a dozen 

 occasions. He continues: 



Few small birds are as secretive and difficult to see as is the Leconte's Sparrow. 

 In Georgia, it seems to prefer old fields overgrown with broom sedge in which 

 to spend the winter months, and to find one in such a spot requires both per- 

 severence and a certain amount of luck. Reluctant at all times to fly, it will, if 

 alarmed, seek safety by running swiftly along the ground, and only when hard 

 pressed will it flush and remain briefly in view. Its flight then appears slow and 

 feeble, and it will go but a short distance before dropping into the concealing 

 vegetation. Instant pursuit may or may not result in another glimpse of this 

 elusive little sparrow, depending largely on whether one has guessed correctly in 

 which direction it ran on reaching the ground again. Considering these cir- 

 cumstances, it is not surprising that it has been so seldom reported in the state, 

 and it is not improbable that it is much more common during the winter than 

 the few records would indicate. 



Of its winter status in Florida little has been discovered since A. H. 

 Howell (1932) wrote: 



A winter resident, chiefly on the west coast; apparently rare in most sections, 

 though perhaps locally common. * * * Leconte's Sparrows are probably the 

 most elusive of the small sparrows, living in old fields under cover of dense, 

 matted grass and weeds, from which they are flushed only with difficulty. May- 

 nard is apparently the only collector who has found them common in Florida. 

 His notes, made at Rosewood [Levy County] and published by Brewster (1882 

 * * *), are as follows: 



"The first C. lecontei was shot November 4. Shortly afterwards they became 

 so abundant that as many as twenty were sometimes seen in a day, but notwith- 

 standing their numbers, it was by no means easy to obtain specimens. The chief 

 difficulty arose from their excessive tameness, for they could rarely be forced to 

 take wing, while in the long grass it was impossible to see them at a greater distance 

 than a few yards. Indeed so fearless were they that on several occasions Mr, 

 Maynard nearly caught them in his insect net." 



Maynard was able to collect only 11 specimens in two seasons. 

 Howell lists another half-dozen sight records, most of them in Decem- 

 ber and January. He collected one at Cape Sable "in short grass on 

 the coastal prairie" Feb. 13, 1918. Since Howell's day the species 



