The Migration of North American Sparrows 



FOURTH PAPER 



Compiled by Professor W. W. Cooke, Chiefly from Data in the Biological Survey 



Witli Drawings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes 

 < See frontispiece) 



SHARP TAILED SPARROW 



This species winters in the salt marshes of the Atlantic coast from North 

 CaroHna to Florida, less common!}' on the New Jersey coast, and rarely or casu- 

 ally on Long Island, and even on the coast of Connecticut. The earliest migrants 

 appear on Long Island late in April, and reach the northern limit of their range 

 in eastern Massachusetts and southwestern Maine about May 20. The last were 

 noted on Cumberland Island, Ga., April 25, 1903, and in Chatham county, Ga., 

 May 2, 1907; the last at Pea Island, N. C, May 11, 1901, and May 12, 1902. 

 Some late fall records are: Scarboro, Me., September 17, 1902; Durham, N. H., 

 October 21, 1899, and Newport, R. I., October i, 1899. 



NELSON'S SPARROW 



A comparison of the breeding and wintering ranges of the species shows an 

 unusual migration route. The breeding range extends from Manitoba to northern 

 Alberta, while the species winters on the seacoast from North Carolina to Texas, 

 and occurs in migration as far north as Massachusetts. The migration route is 

 therefore fan-shaped, the small end in Alberta, hardly four hundred miles wide,. 

 while the other end reaches from Texas to Massachusetts, with a width of sixteen 

 hundred miles. 



Spring records are scanty and irregular: Blacksburg, Va., May 2;^, 1908; 

 Atlantic City, N. J., May 9, 1892; Erie, Pa., May 24, 1900; Cambridge, Mass., 

 May 31, 1871; Scarboro, Me., May 22, 1897; Quincy, 111., April 26, 1889; 

 Warsaw, 111., May 8, 1879; Geneva, O., May 17, 1902; Coralville, la.. May 27, 

 1904; Sioux City, la., May 24, 1906; Madison, Minn., May 23, 1889; Minne- 

 apolis, Minn., May 26, 1892; Cando, N. D., May 15, 1891; Winnipeg, Mani- 

 toba, May 25, 1892; Stony Plain, Alberta, May 23, 1908; and May 26, 1909; 

 Peace River Landing, Alberta, June 19, 1903; Hay River, Alberta, June 30, 

 1903. The latest recorded dates in the winter home are: Amelia Island, Fla., 

 May II, 1905; Chatham county, Ga., May 2, 1907; Sabine, La., May 20, 1907. 



Fall records are more numerous and indicate a late migration. Dates of fall 

 arrival are: Southern Wisconsin, average, September 18, earliest, September 7, 

 1877; Chicago, 111., average, September 21, earliest, September 17, 1874; Toronto, 

 Ont., September 22, 1894 and September 23, 1898; Fort Wayne, Ind., September 

 27, 1903; Erie, Pa., September 23, 1893 and September 13, 1900; Washington, 

 D. C, September 18, 1893 and September 26, 1898; Charleston, S. C, October 

 8, 1884; Fernandina, Fla., October 17, 1906. The latest dates recorded in the 



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