P.IKDS OI" 



fanc)' 1 have got tlic Ipswich Sporroic, but so far liave not 

 succeeded in doing so. 1 still think the latter species will be 

 found near Hamilton, for we have several suitable resorts which 

 will in future be carefully watched at the proper season. 



Subgenus COTUKNICULUS Bonapakth. 



AMMODRAMUS SAVANNARUM PASSERINUS (VVils.). 

 214. Grasshopper Sparrow. 546 



Edge of wing conspicuously yellow ; lesser wing-coverts and short line 

 over the eye yellowish ; below, not or not evidently streaked, but fore-parts 

 and sides buff, fading to dull white on the belly. Above, singularly variegated 

 with black, gray, yellowish-brown, and a peculiar purplish bay in short 

 streaks and specks, the crown being nearly black, with a sharp median 

 brownish-yellow line, the middle of the back chiefly black, with bay and 

 brownish-yellow edgings of the feathers, the cervical region and rump chiefly 

 gray, mixed with bay ; wing-coverts and inner quills variegated like the 

 back ; feet pale. Young similar, not so buffy below, and with pectoral and 

 maxillary dusky spots. Length, 4^-5^ ; wing, 2 J ; tail, 2 or less, the 

 outstretched feet reaching to or beyond its end. 



Hab. Eastern United States and Southern Canada to the Plains, south 

 to Florida, Cuba, Porto Rico and coast of Central America. 



Nest, a cup shaped hole in the earth, lined with dry grass. 



Eggs, 4 to 6; crystal-white speckled with reddish-brown. 



So far as at present known, the Grasshopper Sparrow is of 

 very rare occurrence in Ontario, the southern border seeming to 



be the northern limit of its distribution. 



Man}' years ago I killed a male, who was squeezing out his 

 wheezy notes from the top of a mullein stalk. Mr. Saunders 

 mentions having taken one near London, but these two cases 

 complete the record for Ontario. 



It is named among the birds found in the Northwest by 

 Prof. Macoun, but is not mentioned in Mr. Seton's list of the 

 Birds of Western Manitoba. It is much given to concealing 

 itself among the rank herbage, and viay in some localities be a 

 rare summer resident in Southern Ontario, but I do not expect 

 to see it here, except as a casual visitor. 



216 



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