THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 33 



they pass northward late in March and during the first week in April. 

 They are said to reappear gradually on Sable Island in the month of May. 

 Near New York City I have occasionally seen, in March, small restless 

 parties of five or six, evidently migrants, as well as numerous single birds, 

 in places where none were to be found at previous visits made in February. 

 During some winters, however, a good many may be found on Long 

 Island, as is borne out by my own observations and those of others who have 

 searched for them ; but in these winters a considerable influx of birds is 

 usually perceptible just about the middle of March. I have taken speci- 

 mens in every month from October to April, and others have done 

 the same in Massachusetts ; although as a rule mid-winter specimens even 

 in the latitude of New York City are not always discoverable. November 

 and March are the months when the greatest number of birds may be con- 

 fidently expected, and a dozen or more may sometimes be secured in a 

 single day. Still they are seldom really abundant, and are usually so 

 scattered over large areas of bleak sand-hills, that each specimen in one's 

 collection means many a mile trudged through yielding sand that slips from 

 beneath the feet at every step. 



Spring specimens usually show evidences of the spring moult, which is 

 seldom completed (especially about the head and eye-ring) while the birds 

 are in New England. The fall moult is accomplished before they return, 

 and is in progress during August, judging from some skins sent me from 

 Sable Island. While there, I learned that they had perceptibly decreased 

 in numbers in recent years, and were possibly not more than one tenth 

 as abundant as they were five years ago. It is probable that their natural 

 enemies already alluded to are responsible for this decrease. What will be 

 their fate when their island home shall have been entirely submerged, is a 

 question for future observers to settle, — it is not likely to be one of our day 

 and generation. 



Habits. 



Willie the birds linger in their winter haunts they are apt to be shy, hiding 

 away singly among the thicker tufts and patches of the brown beach-grass 

 that is so characteristic a feature of the sand-dunes. We all of us know 

 the stiff", sharp points of this grass in the midst of each tuft, on which we 

 carelessly place the hand, and we have all of us seen the magic circles traced 

 in the sand by the tips of the drooping blades as they sway in the breeze. 

 Here we look for the Sparrows, and perhaps may spy one scampering 

 away rapidly, head down, in and out among the tussocks. Now and then he 

 stops to take an observation, standing up very straight as if on tiptoe to get 

 a better view of you through the slender screen of grass-blades. He seldom 



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