504 BLACK AM) WHITE SIIUHE FINCH. 



I ^yas making my ^Yay nlon.n; one of these novel paths on the seventeenth of M-arch,. 

 ]ST2, keeping a sharp lookout lor birds, at the same time carefully watching the ground at 

 my feet in order to detect the pn^sence of the venomous water moccasins which were more 

 numerous here than I had ever seen them elsewhere, when my attention was attracted liy 

 a little black bird which rose from the high grass about twenty yards from me, hovered a 

 moment, uttering a feeble sputtering song, then dropped down and disappeared. I saw it 

 but a moment, yet I was convinced that it was something that I had never seen before. 

 I laboriously made my way to the spot, but was unable to start it even after the most vig- 

 orous eflbrts. This was my first sight of the new Ammodromus , for I was certain that it 

 belonged to this genus and in a. day or two my suspicions were confirmed, for an assistant 

 brought in a specimen which he had taken in the place I had first seen it. We did not 

 find any more near Salt Lake nor did I sec a single specimen, but shortly after I found 

 them quite common on the marshes of Indian River. Yet I only took seven specimens 

 there, for the birds are excocnlingly dilTicult to obtain as they arc not only very shy, but 

 after once starting will seldom rise a second time, remaining concealed in the thick grass. 

 In flight as well as habit this species resembles the Sharp-tailed Finch much more nearly 

 than it docs the Gray Shore Finch. The song, or rather the crude attempt at a, song, for 

 the low sputtering notes scarcely deserve the title, is given while the bird hovers in air 

 suspended over the same spot, after which it drops quickly into the grass. These arc the 

 only notes that I ever heard them utter, except a shai-p chirp of alarm which is given when 

 they are disturbed. Then one will appear for a moment on the top of a waving spear of 

 grass, but only for a moment; the next instant it is gone. 



The Black and White Finches inhalnt the dry marshes where the grass gi-ows in patch- 

 es surrounded hy a peculiar species whi('h is very much lower and which becomes tangled. 

 The birds live in the fonner, but build there nests in the latter, or I have every reason to 

 believe that they do, as during the latter part of April I started them many times from 

 the herbage, and they exhibited the utmost solicitude whenever I approached certain spots, 

 but I failed completely to find the nest although I searched for it many times. This spe- 

 cies was quite common on the marehes of Indian River, just below Dummett's Grove, but 

 I never saw a specimen north of Ilaulover Canal. They were very abundant on the upper 

 end of Merritt's Island where I obtained a few. 



These birds are migratory as they are not to be found in Florida during winter, Imt 

 where they go during this season I am unable to state, but judge that they may be found 

 on the Bahama Islands, and it is also probable that those I found were merely a colony 

 from that place, where they will doubtless be found to occur in large numbers. They are 

 not, however, to be met with on the Florida Keys, but the character of the vegetation is 

 not conducive to their habits as there are no grassy savannahs. 



In comparing this species with the Gray Shoi'c Finch we find that it has entirely 

 different habits; first, the song is quite unlike that o{^ maritimus, accoml, it breeds nearly 

 two months later, and thirdly, it is migratory while the other species is a constant resident 

 ill Florida. 



