272 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUS. 



well drained, although near the center of the field there was a shallow depres- 

 sion, perfectly dry at the time, but filled with rank, coarse grasses such as grow 

 in marshy places. I started the female in this hollow, and the favorite singing 

 station of the male was not far from it among the tops of some tall weeds. 

 Revisiting the place on the following day, I shot the male ^ after making a long 

 and fruitless search for the nest. The female was not seen on this second 

 occasion. 



I have another specimen ^ of Henslow's Sparrow, also a male, which I killed 

 on May 13, 1872, in Rock Meadow. This bird was in full song, but the date 

 of its capture is too early to afford any evidence that it would have passed the 

 summer in the locality where I found it. 



These two instances are all that I can give of the occuiTcnce of Henslow's 

 Sparrow in the Cambridge Region. Mr. C. J. Maynard shot two males on May 

 10, 1867, at Newtonville, and for the past thirty years or morel have found the 

 species breeding regularly, in small numbers, at several localities in Sudbury, 

 Lincoln and Concord. 



158. Ammodramus caudacutus (Gmel.). 

 Sharp-tailed Sparrow. Sharp-tailed Finch. 



Formerly a common summer resident of one locality which has been long since totally 

 abandoned. 



seasonal occurrence. 

 May ig, 1 891, si.x seen, two males taken (Revere Beach), W. Brewster. 



October 9, 1 871, one female' taken, Cambridgeport, W. Brewster. 



nesting dates. 

 June 12 — 30, formerly. 



In his 'Rarer Birds of Massachusetts' Dr. J. A. Allen, writing of the Sharp- 

 tailed Finch, says : " Some half a dozen nests and as many pairs of the birds 

 were obtained the present year [1869], by Mr. H. W. Henshaw in the Charles 



' No. 878, collection of William Brewster. 

 2 No. 877, collection of William Brewster. 

 •' No. 889, collection of William Brewster. 



