774 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 2 



has been reported only about a dozen times, mainly on Audubon 

 Christmas censuses. H. M. Stevenson lists it on his "Field Card of 

 Florida Birds and their Status in the Tallahassee Region" (undated) 

 as occurring in northwestern Florida from the third week of October 

 to the first week of May. 



In Alabama T. A. Imhof (1962) considers Le Conte's sparrow "rare 

 to uncommon in winter and on migration." His earliest fall record is 

 September 23, his latest in spring May 15, both at the Wheeler Refuge 

 in the Tennessee Valley. He reports the bird most commonly from 

 December to March on the lower coastal plain and along the Gulf 

 Coast. 



Concerning its habits in Louisiana in winter G. H. Lowery, Jr. 

 (1955) writes: 



Leconte and Henslow Sparrow are both commonly called "stink birds" by 

 quail hunters because sometimes even well-trained bird dogs point them or are 

 distracted by them. Both species occur mainly in broom sedge (Andropogon) 

 fields where, even though they are often common, they are seldom seen except for 

 the few moments when a bird jumps out of the grass at one's feet, flies twenty 

 yards or so, and then pitches back into the grass. 



* * * As a rule its habitat in Louisiana in winter is somewhat drier than that 

 of the Henslow Sparrow, and it is nowhere more numerous than in slightly rolling 

 terrain where there is a dense stand of broom sedge. On the coast of south- 

 western Louisiana, however, it is also plentiful in the short grass prairies paralleling 

 the Gulf beach, as, for example, along the highway between Cameron and Johnson 

 Bayou. 



The Leconte Sparrow arrives in Louisiana in the latter part of October and 

 remains sometimes until after the first of April. The bird is decidedly more 

 numerous in southern Louisiana in midwinter than it is in northern Louisiana. 



Distribution 



Range. — Southern Mackenzie and northern Ontario south to south- 

 ern Texas and the Gulf Coast. 



Breeding range. — The Le Conte's sparrow breeds from southern 

 Mackenzie (Little Buffalo River), northeastern Alberta (Fort Chipe- 

 wyan), central Saskatchewan (Flotten Lake, Churchill River), central 

 Manitoba (Lake Winnepegosis, Lake St. Martin), and northern 

 Ontario (Fort Severn, Attawapiskat Post) south to north central 

 Montana (Glacier Park), southeastern Alberta (Cassils Lake), 

 southern Saskatchewan (Davidson), northern North Dakota (Souris 

 River, Rock Lake), northwestern and eastern Minnesota (Marshall 

 County, St. Paul), northeastern Wisconsin (Oconto County), and 

 northern Michigan (Germfask, Munuscong Bay); casually south to 

 southeastern South Dakota (Miner County), northeastern Illinois 

 (near Chicago), and southern Ontario (near Bradford). Casual in 

 breeding season east to Quebec (St. Fulgence). 



