312 NOTES ON THE 



A characteristic of many species of females under similar 

 occasion, is very marked in this, in assuming to be badly 

 wounded when incautiously driven from her nest. She drags 

 one leg and its corresponding wing, as if she had been stepped 

 upon by the ruthless intruder, and she successfully "fools the 

 greenhorn," be he an oologist or an other, by trotting him to a 

 safe distance from her nest, when she suddenly forgets there is 

 anything the matter, and flits away to a safe distance, from 

 which to enjoy the disappointment of the intruder. 



Their food, as with most of the sparrows, consists of small 

 beetles and the finer seeds of grass and weeds. 



So entirely terrestial is this species in all of its habits, that 

 after a lifetime's observation of them in nearly every state and 

 territory of the United States and Canada, I have yet to see 

 the first one of them perched on a tree, and only very rarely on 

 a bush or a fence. No doubt that in extremely rare instances 

 others may have witnessed such an event, but I make the state 

 ment to emphasize this characteristic of the species. 



The localities in which I have found them, unlike many other 

 species, have always been rather, indeed, quite restricted. To 

 instance, when out on a collecting excursion, in which I drive 

 over considerable territory which would average in all condi- 

 tions favorably to their habits, I have not found them in more 

 than three or four localities in a whole afternoon, yet if I return 

 to those places many times afterward during the summer, I 

 may depend upon finding them there. And between these sec- 

 tions of occupation, none, or if any, only an individual or two 

 will be seen. Some of them linger far into October, and even 

 November in exceptional instances, before their migration 

 southward. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Feathers of the up^Der parts generally with a central streak 

 of blackish -brown; the streaks of the back with a slight rufous 

 suffusion laterally; the feathers edged with gray, which is 

 lightest on the scapulars; crown with a broad median stripe of 

 yellowish-gray; a superciliary streak from the bill to the back 

 of the head, eyelids, and edge of the elbow, yellow; a yellow- 

 ish-white maxillary stripe curving behind the ear coverts, 

 margined above and below by brown; the lower margin con- 

 sists of a series of thickly crowded spots on the side of the 

 throat, which are also found on the side of the neck, across 

 the upper part of the breast, and on the sides of the body; a 

 few spots on the chin and throat; rest of under parts white; 

 outer primary and tail feathers edged with white. 



Length, 5.50; wing, 2.70; tail, 2.10. 



Habitat, eastern North America. 



