BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 311 



brown; a faint light superciliary and maxillary stripe; the 

 latter margined above and below with dark brown; the upper 

 gtripe continued round the ear coverts, which are darker than 

 the brown color elsewhere. Wings with the shoulder light 

 chestnut-brown, with two dull whitish bands along the ends of 

 the coverts; the outer edge of the secondaries also white; outer 

 tail feathers and edge and tip of the second, white. 



Length, 6.25; wing, 3.10. 



Habitat, eastern North America to Plains. 



AMMODRIMUS SANDWICHEXSIS SAVANNA (Wilson) 



(542a. ) 



SAVANNA SPARROW. 



Although seldom extremely numerous, the Savanna Sparrow 

 is a common summer resident of Minnesota. 



I have no knowledge of any dry prairie districts within the 

 boundaries of my special observations where it has not, earlier 

 or later, been found to spend the nidifying season. It reaches 

 the principal points of notice from April 20th to May 5th, and 

 proceeds to build its nest very soon afterwards, which is con 

 structed of fine grasses and roots, and quite artistically inter- 

 laced, the finest of the material being disposed neatly on the 

 inside. It lays usually four grayish -white eggs, covered 

 rather irregularly with spots of umber-brown and lilac. Com- 

 monly two broods are brought out in a season. 



The song is really one of the hardest to describe, and I shall 

 not attempt it, but Dr. Samuels, in his "Birds of New Eng- 

 land," has so admirably succeeded in approximating it that I 

 shall avail myself of his rendering. He says: "It resembles 

 nearly the syllables 'chewt^e 'chewitt 'chewitt 'chewitt 'cheweet 

 'chewee, uttered slowly and plaintively." I have seldom vis- 

 ited a section favorable to its breeding habits, but what, dur- 

 ing a morning's rambles, I have not heard its characteristic 

 song. 



Mr. Washburn reports this species "extremely common in 

 grass land throughout the Red river valley. I secured spec- 

 imens ranging from the polar eastern varieties to the darker, 

 sharply-marked western forms. From this fact, and from ob- 

 servations of other species, I am led to infer that the Red river 

 valley, situated as it is with the western plains on one side and 

 the Mississippi river on the other, forms as it were, a neutral 

 ground where eastern and western varieties meet and interbreed 

 to some extent, forming intermediate varieties, with interme-. 

 diate shades of plumage." 



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