262 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



is a perfectly true description of the bird under certain circumstances especially 

 if, as has generally been the case with these writers, the chief object of their visit 

 has been to collect rather than to observe the bird. In fact, pursued in this 

 way, many of the specimens have been shot on the wing, the writers stating 

 that it was almost impossible to find them on the ground. I must confess that 

 my first Ipswich Sparrow was found and shot in this manner, but I very soon 

 learned that with care they could be approached and studied at close range. 

 The best place to watch them is on the beach, where the view is unobscured by 

 grass. The beach is one of their favorite feeding places, particularly in the sea- 

 weed or "thatch" thrown up there. Except in the coldest weather, this attracts 

 many insects and not only are the insects found in the stomachs, but the birds 

 may actually be seen to catch them. I have even seen them jump into the air 

 for an insect. Beetles and small flies are the chief kinds found. The bird is a 

 walker and runner, rarely hopping, thus differing from the Savanna Sparrow 

 which, although a runner, prefers to hop rather than to walk. An Ipswich 

 Sparrow that I watched continuously for three quarters of an hour at a distance 

 of a few yards, hopped but twice and then only when jumping from a slight eleva- 

 tion. In walking, it moves its head and shoulders in a dove-like manner. In 

 running, the head is held low, so that the top of the head, back, and tail are 

 parallel with the ground. Ipswich Sparrows may occasionally be seen to scratch, 

 and they scratch vigorously, making the litter fly. I have thought that they did 

 this with the two feet alternately, but so quickly as to seem to scratch with both 

 at once like many of the other Sparrows, but of this I am not absolutely sure. 

 Bearing out this view is the fact that I once saw an Ipswich Sparrow deliber- 

 ately give one scratch with one foot only. Flirting the tail nervously is fre- 

 quently indulged in. 



Among the dunes, Ipswich Sparrows often alight on the seed-stalks of the 

 beach-grass to obtain the seeds. They also, at times, alight in the bushes and 

 even on the roofs of the few houses in the dunes. Their flight is a flickering, 

 undulating one like that of the Savanna Sparrow, and like that bird they drop 

 abruptly into the grass with the tail clown. Like that bird, also, they frequently 

 chase each other either in sport or in anger. They often associate with the 

 other beach- and dune-loving birds, the Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, and Lap- 

 land Longspurs. In fact, I have several times seen all four species together 

 and that, too, at close range. Thus on January 12th, 1902, I found a flock of 

 Longspurs, Larks, and Snow Buntings with three Ipswich Sparrows feeding 

 together in the Ipswich dunes. Again, on January 24th, 1904, in the space of 

 some ten yards square on the beach at Ipswich, I found ten Horned Larks, four 

 Snow Buntings, two Lapland Longspurs, and one Ipswich Sparrow — a truly 

 notable company. The number of Ipswich Sparrows seen together in the fall 



