412 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



Along the coast of Cumberland County this species, as shown 

 by Mr. Norton, is a regular migrant, the earliest date at which 

 he has taken them there being October third, and he is inclined 

 to believe they remain regularly until October thirty-first. Mr. 

 Clark's specimen taken somewhere near his home at Lubec, on 

 the coast of Washington County, on May twenty-first, fixes the 

 date of spring arrival as the latter part of May, probably at 

 about the same dates as the two preceding, closely related 

 forms. 



Dr. Dwight mentions their being rather abundant in the 

 breeding season in the extensive meadows along the Petitcodiac 

 River in NEW BRUNSWICK. These meadows he states are 

 diked off and are in no sense salt marshes where the tide creeps 

 in at will. The birds seem to use the dikes as highways. He 

 also speaks of them as being found on the quite different type 

 of salt marshes of Prince Edward Island and of the St. Law- 

 rence where the grass is short and bogs, not ditches, are the rule. 



At Small Point, Maine, where Mr. Norton found them they 

 were on the salt marsh in close proximity to granite ledges and 

 hills clothed with spruce. The males were in full song and 

 Mr. Norton mentions the fact (1. c.) that they showed a decided 

 preference for certain clumps of grass on which to perch while 

 singing. Specimens taken seemed to show that the females 

 alone did the work of incubation. Young birds of feeble 

 flight were found by him in the short grass slightly removed 

 from the creek. Dr. Dwight mentions them as very shy and 

 secretive, sometimes flying a considerable distance when dis- 

 turbed, but far more likely to dive into the grass and defy all 

 efforts to again flush them. The flight is steadier than that of 

 the Savanna Sparrow. A habit mentioned is that occasionally 

 towards nightfall they will mount into the air and with set 

 wings float down, fairly gushing with song, a habit also of the 

 common Sharp-tail Sparrow. 



The nest and eggs seem never to have been found but can- 

 not be expected to differ from those of the common Sharp-tail. 



