24 memoirs of the nuttall ornithological club. 



History of the Ipswich Sparrow. 



Before intruding upon the Ipswich Sparrow in the privacy it has enjoyed 

 for so many years on its island home, it is worth our wliile to glean from 

 published records such information as has been current regarding an 

 imperfectly known species. 



Inasmuch as I have found it to be the onl}' resident bird upon Sable 

 Island, it is interesting to note in passing that as early as 1858, Dr. Gilpin 

 in a pamphlet upon the natural history of the island^ said " A little brown 

 sparrow {Fringilla ) also summered and wintered there." While 



this is undoubtedly a reference to the Ipswich Sparrow, his importance was 

 not recognized, nor did he appear as a scientific fact until Mr. Maynard in the 

 'American Naturalist' for December, 1869, (p. 554) thus introduced him, 

 under another bird's name, to the zoological world : " On Dec. 4th, 1868, I 

 shot a sparrow that was new to me, on the sand-hills at Ipswich. Through 

 the kindness of Prof. S. F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, to whom 

 I sent it for comparison with the o)ily extant specimen of the Centronyx 

 B a irdii {viWich. is owned by iiim), it has been proved identical with that 

 collected by Audubon in 1843 on the banks of the Yellowstone River, in 

 the far West. My specimen differs somewhat in size and general 

 coloration from Prof. Baird's. A detailed description, and the comparative 

 measurements of the two specimens will be given in a work about to be 

 published, entitled ' A Guide to Naturalists in collecting and preserving 

 objects of Natural History,' which will also contain a complete list of the 

 birds of Eastern Massachusetts, with critical notes and remarks relative to 

 the localities in which some of the rarer species occur. A life-sized 

 engraving of the Centronyx captured at Ipswich will also be given." 



In justice to Prof. Baird, it may be here stated that at that time there 

 was but one worn and faded specimen of Baird's Sparrow, taken nearly 

 thirty years before, with which to make comparison. The two species 

 really resemble one another but very slightly. In the same number of 

 the 'American Naturalist' (p. 513) Dr. J. A. Allen refers to the Ipswich 

 specimen at the beginning of his ' Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds of 

 Massachusetts,' a full account following in February, 1870, (p. 631) under 

 ♦ Centronyx BairdiT of his list. During the year 1870 Mr. Maynard's 

 'Naturalists' Guide' was published, containing a wood-cut and original 

 description of the supposed Baird's Sparrow (p. 112). As this really 

 applies to Ammodratnus frinceps, I take the liberty of quoting the article 

 almost entire : — 



' For exact references to this, and to succeeding papers quoted, reference siiould be made to the 

 bibliography appended at page 43. 



