32 



MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTxVLL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Sparrow of the mainland by ties that cannot now be traced. During the 

 migrations it is often associated with the Savanna Sparrows, but iinHke 

 them it is strictly littoral by habit. But two instances have come to my 

 knowledge (disregarding the more than doubtful records from Texas and 

 New Hampshire), where the bird has been captured out of hearing of the 

 surf, — one ten miles inland near New Haven, Conn., by Dr. Bishop 

 (Auk, VI, 1889, p. 199), and one at Cambridge, Mass., by Mr. Charles 

 R. Lamb. 



Their pallid colors are undoubtedly due to environment, as their whole 

 life is spent among hillocks of bleached and drifted sand. Even from the 

 most verdure-clad valleys of Sable Island, where they preferably abide 

 during the breeding season, it is but a step into a desert, and although 

 occasionally found at other seasons along the rocky coasts of the mainland, 

 it seems probable that the birds only visit such localities as they pass along 

 in migration. A few brave the winters of their island home, and are often 

 seen about the stations when the ground is covered with snow, feeding 

 among the barnyard fowls. They have frequently been observed to fall 

 dead while flj'ing, and the children have attributed their death to the 

 expansive force of the corn-meal they have eaten ! 



Mr. Boutilier tells me the ' Gray Birds' begin to diminish in numbers 

 early in September, and it is probable the great majority leave Sable 

 Island late in the autumn, scattering southward along the New England 

 shores. Here some linger through the winter, but the bulk presses farther 

 south; and birds have been found, when careful search has been made, 

 even as far south as Georgia, where two have been taken in January at the 

 mouth of the Altamaha River. There are no autumn or winter records for 

 any point north of Portland, Maine, and, it may be added, there are very 

 few spring records for New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. The birds seem 

 to winter chief!}' south of New York City, and are reported as common at 

 Cobb's Island, Virginia, but observations at all localities are usually con- 

 fined to flying trips made to the seashore by the enthusiastic collector, and 

 consequently the distribution and migratory movements of this species are 

 even now imperfectly understood. They appear to reach Massachusetts 

 (where probably the most careful observations have been made) with one of 

 the early ' cold waves,' pretty regularly from the middle to the last of 

 October, and Long Island, New York, at ver}' nearly the same time or 

 perhaps a few days later. For a month or more they may be abundant, and 

 after that, as a general rule, only stragglers can be found. 



On their return northward in the spring they reach Long Island during 

 March, usually the last two weeks or a little earlier if the weather be 

 mild, and loiterers may be found in the early April days. In Massachusetts 



