40 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



and eggs. Dr. Alexander Gerhardt also found these Sparrows common at 

 Varnell's Station, in the northern part of Georgia. Professor Joseph Leconte 

 has taken it near Savannah, and Mr. W. L. Jones has also obtained several 

 specimens in Liberty County, in the same State. 



After meeting with this species on the Edisto, Dr. Bachman ascertained, 

 upon searching for them in the vicinity of Charlestowu, that they breed in 

 small numbers on the pine barrens, about six miles north of that city. He 

 was of the opinion that it is by no means so rare in that State as has been 

 supposed, but that it is more often heard than seen. When he first heard 

 it, the notes so closely resembled those of the Towhee Bunting that for a 

 while he mistook them for those of that bird. Their greater softness and 

 some slight variations at last induced him to suspect that the bird was 

 something different, and led him to go in pursuit. After that it was quite a 

 common thing for him to hear as many as five or six in the course of a morn- 

 ing's ride, but he found it almost impossible to get even a sight of the bird. 

 This is owing, not so much to its being so wild, as to the habit it has of 

 darting from the tall pine-trees, on which it usually sits to warble out its 

 melodious notes, and concealing itself in the tall broom-grass that is almost 

 invariably found in the places it frequents. As soon as it alights it runs off, 

 in the manner of a mouse, and hides itself in the grass, and it is extremely 

 difficult to get a siglit of it afterwards. 



It was supposed by Dr. Bachman ■ — correctly, as it has been ascertained — 

 to breed on the ground, where it is always to be found when it is not singing. 

 He never met with its nest. " In June, 1853, he observed two pairs of these 

 birds, each having four young. They were pretty well fledged, and were fol- 

 lowing their parents along the low scrub-oaks of the pine lands. 



Dr. Bachman regarded this bird as decidedly the finest songster of the 

 Sparrow family with which he was acquainted. Its notes are described as 

 very loud for the size of the bird, and capable of being heard at a consider- 

 able distance in the pine woods where it occurs, and where at that season 

 it is the only singer. 



He also states that, by the middle of November, they have all disap- 

 peared, probably migrating farther south. It is quite probable that they 

 do not go beyond the limits of the United States, and that some remain in 

 South Carolina during the whole of winter, as on the Cth of February, the 

 coldest part of the year, Dr. Bachman found one of them in the long grass 

 near Charleston. 



Mr. Audubon says that on his return from Florida, in June, 1832, travel- 

 ling through both the Carolinas, he observed -many of these Finches on the 

 sides of the roads cut through the pine woods of South Carolina. They 

 filled the air with their melodies. He traced them as far as the boundary 

 line of North Carolina, but saw none within the limits of that State. They 

 were particularly aV)undant about the Great Santee Eiver. 



This Finch, hitlierto assumed to be an exclusively southeastern species, has 



