3l8 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Mr. Iv. Jones states that in Iowa the favorite resorts of this 

 sparrow during the breeding season are neglected fields and pas- 

 ture lands. Its nest is placed on the ground, sometimes in a 

 slight depression beneath a tussock of grass. The composition is 

 of fine and coarse grasses, with a few cow-hairs. The eggs are 

 deposited about May 25 (Davie's Nests and Eggs of N. A. Birds). 



245. (548). Ammodramus lecontei (And.). Leconte Sparrow. 

 The Leconte Sparrow is a regular and probably a rather com- 

 mon migrant through Iowa. It appears in the latter part of 

 March and in April, and in September and October. It is sel- 

 dom seen on account of its habit of skulking in the thick dead 

 grass along the borders of sloughs and in low places. It seldom 

 rises unless almost stepped on, flies a short distance, dropping out 

 of sight again in the dense grasses. 



County records: Buena Vista — "at Storm Lake, Iowa, dur- 

 ing the latter part of September, 1887, Dr. A. K. Fisher found 

 Leconte' s Sparrow common and secured specimens not yet out of 

 'first plumage," showing that they had been hatched in the 

 neighborhood — Dr. C. H. Merriam " (Cooke, Bird Migr. in Miss. 

 Val., p. 191). Hancock — one shot Oct. 9, 1898; saw^ one Sept. 

 II, 1902 (Anderson). Jasper — Newton, 1875 (Coues' Key, 5th 

 Ed., i, p. 411). Johnson — a specimen taken at Tiffin, Iowa, in 

 Bond collection, University museum. Shot one male near Iowa 

 City, March 29, 1901 (Anderson). Lee — "common migrant" 

 (Currier); " irregular migrant " (Praeger). Linn — "rare mi- 

 grant" (Berry). Polk — "a specimen taken April 19, 1886, now 

 in Iowa Agri. museum at Ames" (W. A. Bryan, Iowa Orn., i, i, 

 1894, p. 5). Poweshiek — " I took but one specimen" (L. Jones). 

 Story — " twenty-two specimens taken in a small slough at Colo, 

 Story county, in October, 1876" (H. B. Bailey, Bull. Nutt. Club, 

 ii, I, 1877, pp. 26-27). Webster — "common" (Somes). Win- 

 neshiek — " shot one Oct. 3, 1896; saw several others at the same 

 time" (Smith). Winnebago — shot one adult male Oct. 15, 1892; 

 a juvenile specimen in yellowish plumage Sept. 10, 1896; adult 

 male and female Oct. 2, 1896; male April 9, 1897 (Anderson). 



246. (549.1). Ammodramus uelso)ii A\\eu. Nelson Sparrow. 

 This interior representative of the Sharp-tailed Sparrow 



"breeds in the marshes of the interior from northern Illinois 



