LFX'ONTE'S SPARROW. 507 



prefer tliosc portion.^ of old fields in the vicinity of bulises, rather than the wider, grassy 

 place.*. 



COTURNICULUS LECOi'VTEI. 



Leconte's Sparrow. 



Plate XXXVI, Younj;. inalc, in winter. 



DESCRIPTIOX. 



Sp. Cii. Size, small ; furm, slender Tail feathers very iiarnnv and accuiiiiiiate. Bill, slender. 



Color. Adult in spring. Throat, sides and flanks, siiles of head and brow, line over ej'e, buff, the 

 latter rather ochraceous. Top of head, brown, with a central stripe of pale or ashy buff. Back of neck, 

 chestnut, with the feathers edged with ashy buff. Feathers of back, primaries and tertiaries* dark brown 

 centrally, this is margined with chestnut which is edged with a buff that often becomes lighter on the outer 

 edges. Wings, pale In-own, edged with pale buff. Tail, with center of feathers brown, with faint indications 

 of pale bandings, edged on both webs, more broadly on inner, with reddish buff which becomes lighter on the 

 extreme edges. Below the sides and flanks are decidedly streaked with brown that is sometimes edged with 

 chestnut. Other parts below, not 3'et mentioned, white, faintly tinged with baff, especially on the under wing 

 coverts. Bend of wing, white. In winter the colors, above and below, are more suffused with buff. Young, 

 rather more buffy than the adult, and in addition to the streakiugs on the sides there are narrower lines 

 extending across the breast. Iris and bill, brown. Feet, very pale brown. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Readily known from the closely-allied Henslow's Sparrow by the buff, not white, throat, white, not 

 yellow bend of wing, and from all other of our sparrows by the buffy colors and exceedingly narrow, 

 accuminate tail feathers. Habitat, during the breeding season, from the Great Plains north to Manitoba, 

 in w inter, migrating southward from southern Kansas to Texas and from South Carolina to Western Florida. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length, 4.85 to 5.00 ; stretch, G.50 to 7.00 ; wing, 1.1)5 to 2(J0 ; tail, 2.00 to 2.10 ; bill. .OS to .40 : tarsus, 

 .GS to .70. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, placed on the ground in marshy places, composed of grass, etc. Egus, four or five in number, 

 oval in form, white in color, spotted and dotted on the large end with brown, black, and sometimes with 

 bluish. Dimensions, .74 by .49 to .75 by .50. 



HABITS. 



Although Leconte's Sparrow had been previously discovered bv Mr. N. C. Brown, in 

 Alabama, I was quite surpri.scd to find it common about Rosewood, Florida, in the autiunii 

 of 1 SSI, and again at the same season in ISSo. They made their appearance in tiie 

 latter-named year about the fifteenth of November, during a cold spell which Avas accom- 

 panied by high northerly winds. I first observed them in the ])ine woods, but later I 

 found them in old fields that had been grown u]) to high grass. Here they associated Avith 

 both Henslow's and the Yellow-winged Sparrow, but were rather tamer than either of 

 these sjiecies. During dam]^, foggy mornings I found that they tlusiied quite readily, 

 Hying with a rather weaker Might than either tlie Y'ellow-winged or Henslow's Sparrow, 

 usually in a straight line for a few yard.-*, when they would drop into the grass iigiiin. 



