Birds of Indiana. 941 



1896, and another August 4, 1896. May 30, 1894, he found it com- 

 mon about Wolf Lake. "In northern Illinois, in Wisconsin and Min- 

 nesota it is in some localities common, breeding in large colonies, but 

 in other entirely similar places it is not found at all" (Nehrling, N". A. 

 B., Pt. X., p. 84). There is a specimen in the State Museum at Indian- 

 apolis that was taken at English Lake, Ind., June 14, 1896. Dr. J. M. 

 Wheaton notes he once observed it in Ohio in June, and refers to its 

 breeding at Gambier (Birds of Ohio, p. 325). 



In the fall they begin to be observed migrating in September. 

 The earliest record I have at Brookville is September 9, 1886. They 

 may be seen through that month and the next. The latest record I 

 have from Cook County, 111., is October 11, 1896. Some, however, 

 linger along into November, and stop with us in mild winters. The 

 song is always a weak affair, as easy to be overlooked as the singer. 

 At breeding time insects are eaten; at other times they do good by 

 destroying great quantities of weed seed (King, Geol. of Wis., I., p. 

 536). 



Subgenus Coturniculus Bonaparte. 



*211. (546). Ammodramus savannarum passerinus (Wils.). 



Grasshopper Sparrow^. 

 Synonyms, Cricket Sparrow, Ybllow-winoed Sparrow. 



Adult. — Above, chestnut-brown, edged with ashy, streaked with 

 black; nape, grayish or buffy, with small chestnut spots; lower back 

 and rump, reddish and ashy; head, throat, breast and sides, ochraeeous- 

 buff; other under parts, whitish; edge of wing and spot before the eye, 

 yellow; no. streaks on side of breast; crown, blackish, with a middle 

 stripe over the eye of buff or paler gray; tail feathers, narrow and 

 pointed; they, and wing feathers, edged more or less with whitish. 

 Immature. — More buffy below; grayer above; breast, streaked with 

 dusky. 



Length, 5.20; wing, 2.50; tail, 1.90; bill, .50; depth of bill, .25; 

 tarsus, .80. 



Eange. — Eastern North America, from Costa Eica and West Indies; 

 north to Dakota, south Ontario and Massachusetts; casual in Maine. 

 Breeds throughout United States range. Winters from southern Illi- 

 nois and North Carolina southward. 



Nest, on ground; of grass. Eggs, 3-5; white, spotted and blotched 

 with reddish-brown; .73 by .58. 



Over most of Indiana a common summer resident, frequenting 

 timothy and clover meadows, prairies and fields of small grain. In the 

 three first mentioned its nest-building is upon the ground. Sometimes, 



