14 



THE OOLOGJST 



well by day, as I could hardly ever get a 

 shot at a flock as they roosted upon the bar. 

 They are as diificult as a White Heron or 

 Pelicau to approach. The Laughing Gulls 

 and Terns they associate with on the bars, 

 but never associate much when flying. 



I suppose the cause of their northern vis- 

 it was owing to a heavy gale of wind that 

 blew them out of their course, and from 

 the reception they received from all kinds 

 of shot guns, they will not care to return 

 the visit another year. 



Studies on Certain Fringillidce. — 

 The Savannah Sparrow. 



AN a breezy day in June, some years ago, 

 we set out on a collecting tramp through 

 the blossoming meadows and surrounding 

 orchards. Our prey was to be mostly birds' 

 eggs, and the trip proved a very remunera- 

 tive oue. We had a special desire to visit 

 all the orchards possible within a given ter- 

 ritory, for our experience of the previous 

 season — when the aspiration for a collec- 

 tion of birds' eggs first took a permanent 

 footing — had taught us that for a begin- 

 ning, apple-trees furnished quite a little 

 harvest of nests, and in variety too. It 

 was our custom to examine each tree close- 

 ly, but the ground seemed to be so unpro- 

 ductive tliat for tlie time being little atten- 

 tion was paid in that direction. In one or- 

 chard, however, where the grass, every- 

 where deep, green and luxuriant, was some- 

 what of an impediment to our progress, we 

 were necessarily obliged to keep our eyes a 

 portion of the time upon the ground. We 

 had searclied a number of trees and were 

 convinced that a bird flew from a nest in 

 the one we were engaged with, when a 

 frightened creature fluttered out of the long 

 grass near us, and with loud lament, hop- 

 ped into the sprouts of a tree close by. Both 

 of us hunted about in the grass some time, 

 quartering the ground quite faithfully with- 

 out success, until at last the nest was found 

 a dozen feet away, close by a path through 

 the orchard. Meanwhile, the bird mani- 



fested much anxiety, and knowing the nest 

 to belong to it, the poor creature was shot 

 with as little compunction as bird hunters 

 are usually supposed to have. We did not 

 see the other bird. It w^as strawberry sea- 

 son, and, prompted by a strange youthful 

 idea, we replaced the four eggs with the 

 same number of bright strawberries, though 

 what for no subsequent reasoning has been 

 able to satisfactorily explain. It is possi- 

 ble that the berries were intended to serve 

 the same purpose that the painted wooden 

 eggs of some novice collectors are supposed 

 to — stimulate the bird to go on and lay 

 another set, but our bird was killed. 

 When we reached home, we ascertained 

 the bird to be Passerculus savanna. Since 

 then we have found the species to nest rath- 

 er commonly throughout the Middle States. 



The nest was very similar to those of 

 the majority of ground-building Sparrows, 

 composed of rootlets, grasses and horse- 

 hair. The eggs were heavily spotted with 

 brown, pretty well distributed over the sur- 

 face. Specimens taken since were often 

 encircled with a belt of spots and blotches. 



Like many other species, this Sparrow 

 has a fickle way of disappearing from a 

 district for one or more seasons, where pre- 

 viously it was amoug the most numerous 

 species. For the past two or three sum- 

 mers the Savannah Sparrow has been seen 

 only occasionally in central New York. It 

 does not seem to be shy, but is certainly 

 not as quickly to be noticed as the Grass 

 Finch or Song Sparrow. Its habits are 

 pretty well known to collectors, though its 

 eggs and nest have always been sought for 

 on account of their desirableness for the 

 cabinet. Upland meadows and pastures 

 are its favorite haunts, and it is somewhat 

 more abundant on the seacoast than in the 

 interior. 



The study of the notes and modes of flight 

 of different species of birds is interesting 

 and profitable. Time given to the compar- 

 ison of the songs of adult birds with the 

 notes of their young, and a good memory 



