S6 Proceedings of the 



have suspected the real nature of eitlier place had not the 

 sitting birds fluttered away to avoid being stepped upon. 



84. Atmnodramus savannarum bimaculatus Swainson. 

 Western Grasshopper Sparrow. 



The little Western Grasshopper Sparrows are a fa- 

 miliar companion of your travels in this region and are 

 frequently met wuth in the river valley although they are 

 much more numerous back in the hills, where they out- 

 number the other birds found there. When traversing the 

 grass-covered slopes it is a frequent occurrence to flush 

 from underfoot a little grayish-brown shape which skims 

 the tops of the grasses for a short distance with wavering 

 flight, drops suddenly out of sight and skulks rapidly un- 

 der cover of the vegetation to another position. When you 

 approach the place where you saw it disappear nothing is 

 to be seen of it, but, as you move about in an attempt to 

 flush it again, the elusive bird comes up on one side and 

 you turn your head only in time to see it droppihg from 

 sight again. When flushed from the nest the parent birds 

 frequentlj'^ travel some distance, skulking behind clumps 

 of grass and weeds or even under cover of vegetation so 

 sparse that you wonder it can shield any moving thing, 

 and the first indication that you have of the presence of 

 a bird is the sight of one rising from a little patch of 

 grasses which, as you may afterward discover, is some dis- 

 tance from where the bird started to run and quite destitute 

 of any nest. Sometimes, especially when young are in the 

 nest, the mother sits close and flies only when discovery 

 is imminent, and at such times the usual procedure is for 

 her to try to lead you away by feigning a broken wing and 

 therefore appearing easy of capture. On June 18, 1912, 

 I found a nest which contained four young birds. This 

 nest was on the slope of the hills facing the river, the only 

 one so discovered since all the others that I found were 

 back in the hills. On June 6, I found a single egg of the 

 species lying by itself in the open prairie with no nest of 

 any kind near. June 24, 1 discovered a nest with a single 

 egg, and on June 27, R. J. Pool showed me a nest which 

 he had found which contained a full set of five. On July 

 11, I discovered still another nest, this time with four 

 fully-feathered young which more than filled the nest. The 

 little birds remained perfectly quiet after the parent had 

 fluttered off, until I touched one of them when they broke 



