14 PROCEEDING.S OF THE 



is vastly superior to that of the " Amen " sparrow, in fact they 

 do not seem to belong to the same class. It is, however, as- 

 eerted that this " Amen " performer has a fine song in reserve 

 which it sings in more ecstatic moments. This I have never 

 heard. The scolding note is a simple bird "chick." I have 

 not seen this bird alight on a tree, brush or fence. It gen- 

 erally sings from the ground or less than a foot above it on low 

 grass, sometimes climbing to a dead weed or brush top 18 inches 

 high, but always descending like a mouse to the ground on a 

 person's approach, and flying away just as you are about to 

 step on it, not often sneaking about for safety on alighting as do 

 other ground sparrows. 



Taking the facts of its occurrence in New .Jersey as now 

 known, we may look for Henslow's Sparrow to be locally pres- 

 ent in the breeding season along the entire stretch of intermedi- 

 ate neap-tide meadows which stretch from Hudson county 

 along the Atlantic coast to Cape May and thence along Dela- 

 ware Bay to Salem. If they were to be found in upper Glou- 

 cester or Camden counties, the very thorough exploration of 

 these districts by our members for the past twenty years would 

 almost certainly have revealed them. 



From the recorded notices of this species in other parts of 

 Pennsylvania and New Jersey, especially when we take the ob- 

 servations of Mr. Waldron Miller into account, it is fair to 

 prophesy its occurrence in the breeding season in the most un- 

 expected localities throughout the region. While it seems to 

 be a rule that they prefer wet lowlands, more especially along 

 the tidewater, they may also frequent in much diminished 

 numbers dry upland or moist fields several hundred feet above 

 sea level and far removed from the coast. 



Whether Henslow's Sparrow is materially increasing in num- 

 bers on the Atlantic coast is a question hard to decide for New 

 Jersey at least, owing to the lack of past records. Mr. Miller's 

 inland records however are significant, and are somewhat con- 

 firmed by observers in the vicinity of Washington, D. C, one 

 of whom, Mr. Paul Bartsch, declares that he found the bird very 

 much more abundant in 1!)()2 than ever before, though he is in- 

 clined to attribute this to his better acquaintance with the 

 species and his consequent ability to detect its presence. 



