lOO rOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



where it builds its nest on the top of a tuft of grass, or in the midst 

 of a root of the buttercup, with little regard to concealment. The 

 nest is constructed of dry leaves and grasses and abundantly lined 

 with horsehair. The eggs are from four to six, and they hatch two 

 broods in a season, the first the latter part of May. They do not 

 arrive here till a fortnight or more after the Song Sparrows, and their 

 full, clear song is not heard in its perfection till towards May. 

 Mounted on a stone wall, a fence rail, or a boulder, they often tune 

 their viviant notes by the half hour, lifting their heads perpendicu- 

 larly towards the sky, as if to give them full scope at each repetition, 

 and heard in the midst of the solitary pasture lands, or on some 

 boulder on the open heath, the speaker stated that he scarcely knew 

 any bird song more enchanting. When a person approaches their 

 nest, the female has a way of attracting the attention from it by 

 fluttering along the ground, feigning lameness or inability to fly, 

 which, in some sort, compensates for her want of tact in concealing 

 the fabric. A prominent mark by which this species may be recog- 

 nized is the bright bay color on the shoulder of its wings. 



The Savannah Sparrow or Bunting {^Emberiza savanna) be- 

 comes plentiful in our section along in May. In taking to rocky, 

 open fields, and in building its nest in a tuft of grass or under the 

 edge of the ground juniper, it resembles the Bay-winged Bunting, 

 as also its artifices to draw attention away from its eggs or nestlings, 

 but here resemblance ceases. It approaches the farmhouse, at 

 times, alights on the stone wall, under the spreading apple trees by 

 the roadside, or on the edge of the shed, or on the well sweep, and 

 at least cheers by its presence, if not by its song — if the few faint 

 notes which it is prompt to utter whenever it alights can be digni- 

 fied with the name of song. Indeed, these bear more resemblance 

 to the chirp of a cricket than to bird notes. It migrates by day, and 

 during its migratory tour rests upon the ground by night ; and al- 

 ways, when disturbed from its perch, flies quite low over the ground, 

 often hiding among the grass. Its nest is built of dry grasses, and 

 contains from four to six eggs, in our section rearing but one 



