FRINGILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 535 



of under parts white. Outer tail-feathers and primaries edged with white. Length, 5.50 ; 

 wing, 2.70; tail, 2.10. 



Young. Grround-color of the upper parts (except wings and tail) light ochraceous, 

 more brownish on top of head, upper part of back, and on upper tail-coverts ; the streaks 

 blacker and more conspicuous than in the adult. Beneath with an ochraceous tinge 

 anteriorly, the streaks broader, and deeper black, than in the adult, though less sharply- 

 defined. The infra-niaxillary streak expanded into a broad blackish elongated blotch. 



Hab. Eastern North America to the Missouri plains, and northwest to Alaska. Cuba, 

 winter (Cab. Jour. lY, G). 



Specimens vary considerably in size, color, and shape of bill, Ijut the 

 average is as described. Spring birds have the markings sliarper and 

 clearer, the dark streaks with little or no suffusion of rufous. 



Habits. The Savanna Sparrow is an abundant species throughout North 

 America, from the Atlantic sea-board to the Great Plains. It is, however, 

 everywhere much less common in the interior than nearer the shore. The 

 Smithsonian specimens are from points as far south as Georgia and Louisi- 

 ana, and as far west as the Black Hills of Wyoming. It passes north through 

 Massachusetts, from the first to the middle of April, and some remain to breed 

 in the eastern part of the State. Mr. ]\Iaynard speaks of it as . a common 

 summer resident. This, however, is true oidy of a few restricted maritime 

 localities, but is not so of the entire eastern portion of the State. It occurs 

 l)oth in the salt marshes of Charles Eiver and in the vicinity of Fresh Pond, 

 but I could never trace it in any of the neighboring towns. It is occasion- 

 ally met with in inland situations where we would not naturally look for it. 

 In the summer of 1869, Mr. AVilliam Brewster found quite a colony of these 

 birds in an open field near the Glen House, at the foot of Mt. Washington. 

 They had nests with eggs the last of July and the first of August. 



In Western Massachusetts, according to j\Ir. Allen, it rarely or never stops 

 to breed. In Western Maine, ]\Ir. Verrill mentions it as a common summer 

 visitant, and as breeding there in the latter part of jVIay. In the vicinity of 

 Eastport, and in all the islands of the Grand Menan group, I found these 

 Sparrows very abundant. Tliey almost invariably built their nests in de- 

 pressions on the edge or just under the projecting to})S of high bluffs of land 

 near the sea. Tliey were by far the most abundant of tlie land-birds, and it 

 was quite common to find their nests in close proximity one to another. 

 They arrive there in April, and leave in September, passing slowly south 

 more in reference to the abundance of their food than the severity of the 

 season, until the weather becomes very severe, when they all disappear. They 

 winter in the Southern States, from Virginia to Georgia, and are especially 

 abundant in the Carolinas. Dr. Coues states that they were very common 

 about Columbia from October to April, moving in large flocks and associ- 

 ating with other species. Wilson states that lie met with this species, from 

 Savannah to ISTew York, in all the low country, and regarded it as resident 

 in those places, but rarely found at a distance from the sea-shore. He found 

 them especially numerous at Great Egg Harbor, N. J. 



