32 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 
Sparrow of the mainland by ties that cannot now be traced. During the 
migrations it is often associated with the Savanna Sparrows, but unlike 
them it is strictly littoral by habit. But two instances have come to my 
knowledge (disregarding the more than doubtful records from Texas and 
New Hampshire), where the bird has been captured out of hearing of the 
surf,—one ten miles inland near New Haven, Conn., by Dr. Bishop 
(Auk, VI, 1889, p. 199), and one at Cambridge, Mass., by Mr. Charles 
R. Lamb. 
Their pallid colors are undoubtedly due to environment, as their whole 
life is spent among hillocks of bleached and drifted sand. Even from the 
most verdure-clad valleys of Sable Island, where they preferably abide 
during the breeding season, it is but a step into a desert, and although 
occasionally found at other seasons along the rocky coasts of the mainland, 
it seems probable that the birds only visit such localities as they pass along 
in migration. A few brave the winters of their island home, and are often 
seen about the stations when the ground is covered with snow, feeding 
among the barnyard fowls. They have frequently been observed to fall 
dead while flying, and the children have attributed their death to the 
expansive force of the corn-meal they have eaten! 
Mr. Boutilier tells me the ‘Gray Birds’ begin to diminish in numbers 
early in September, and it is probable the great majority leave Sable 
Island late in the autumn, scattering southward along the New England 
shores. Here some linger through the winter, but the bulk presses farther 
south; and birds have been found, when careful search has been made, 
even as far south as Georgia, where two have been taken in January at the 
mouth of the Altamaha River. There are no autumn or winter records for 
any point north of Portland, Maine, and, it may be added, there are very 
few spring records for New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. The birds seem 
to winter chiefly south of New York City, and are reported as common at 
Cobb’s Island, Virginia, but observations at all localities are usually con- 
fined to flying trips made to the seashore by the enthusiastic collector, and 
consequently the distribution and migratory movements of this species are 
even now imperfectly understood. They appear to reach Massachusetts 
(where probably the most careful observations have been made) with one of 
the early ‘cold waves,’ pretty regularly from the middle to the last of 
October, and Long Island, New York, at very nearly the same time or 
perhaps afew days later. Fora month or more they may be abundant, and 
after that, as a general rule, only stragglers can be found. 
On their return northward in the spring they reach Long Island during 
March, usually the last two weeks or a little earlier if the weather be 
mild, and loiterers may be found in the early April days. In Massachusetts 
