218 



SPARROWS AND FINCHES. 



4. LECONTE'S SPARROW, C. leconteii. 5.00; more 

 slender than 3; head and hind neck, buff, the latter streaked 

 with chestnut, more buff beneath ; edge of wing, white, fig. 

 287. Breeds in the prairie marshes of the upper Mississippi 

 Valley north into the British Possessions; winters in the 

 Southern States from S. C. to western Fla. Habits, similar to 3. 



j. Marsh Sparrows. Aimnoclramus. 



Slender sparrows differing from i in having longer and 

 more slender bills, rather larger feet, and in being more 

 heavily streaked beneath. Nests, often on the ground ; eggs, 

 pale blue spotted with brown. Flight, low and direct with 

 rapid wing-beats. 



Fig. 287. Fig. 288. 



CC, F, i, 4. 1-3. CC, F, j, 1. 1-3. 



1. SEASIDE SPARROW, A. maritimus. 5.50; green- 

 ish gray above obscurely streaked with darker ; line from over 

 eye to bill and edge of wing, yellow ; white beneath, reddish- 

 buff of breast, sides and under tail coverts rather obscurely 

 streaked with gray; sides of head, gray; a dusky maxillary 

 line, fig. 288. Salt marshes of Atlantic Coast of U. S., breed- 

 ing from southern N. E. to Ga. ; winters from the Carolinas 

 southward. Abundant. Frequents the tall grasses of the 

 marshes which are submerged by the tides, nesting on the 

 dry marshes, sometimes on the ground but often fastened to 



