SUPPLEMENT TO BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY 



145 



I have seen this bird in the southern part of the State at Westport. It is a 

 larger and much darker bird than the Sharp-tail but has similar habits. Its song 

 may be divided into two parts : the first a gurgling trill, followed by an insect-like 

 high-pitched trill. The first part sounds as if the bird were breathing out, the 

 last, as if it were drawing in its breath. 



235 [552] Chondestes grammacus grammacus (Say). 



Lark Sparrow; Lark Finch. 

 Accidental visitor from the West. 



I am able to add four more records of this bird for the County all of which, 

 I believe, are certain, although all, unlike the first three, are merely sight records. 

 I transcribe the note of the first from my report in the Auk:^ "On August 12, 

 1905, at Ipswich, ^lassachusetts, I observed at close range a Lark Sparrow 

 {Chondestes grammaeus). This makes the sixth record of this species for the 

 State, and the fourth for Essex County. Nearly a year before this, on xA.ugust 

 21, 1904, I took at Ipswich an adult male Lark Sparrow (Birds of Essex County, 

 p. 268). It has occurred to me that stragglers in the migrations along our eastern 

 coast may not be so very rare, but that they are overlooked, being mistaken for 

 Vesper Sparrows, owing to the white outer tail-feathers. In both of the above 

 instances, however, the slightly fan-shaped tail, and the fact that the white was 

 not confined to the two outer feathers, as in the Vesper Sparrow, attracted my 

 eye. The characteristic markings on the side of the head in the Lark Sparrow, 

 seen with a glass within thirty feet, made the diagnosis in the second case abso- 

 lutely certain." 



The next record is by Mrs. Lidian E. Bridge:- "I wish to record that on 

 August 28, 1908, Miss E. D. Boardman and I saw in a newly planted field at Ips- 

 wich, a fine Lark Sparrow. The Ijird was associated with Chipping, Vesper and 

 Song Sparrows. We were attracted at once by the curious face markings, the 

 unstreaked breast with a small black spot, the rounded tail tipped with white, the 

 outer feathers with much white. These details were all carefully noted at a dis- 

 tance of fifteen feet, as the bird was feeding. Having seen them in the West I 

 knew is was a Lark Sparrow, the second record, I believe, for Ipswich." 



On August 23 and again on September 27, 1910, Miss E. D. Boardman saw 

 at close range a Lark Sparrow at Manchester. As this may have been the same 



1 Townsend, C. W. Auk, vol. 23, pp. 103, 104, 1906. 



2 Bridge, L. E. Auk, vol. 25, p. 476, 1908. 



