944 Report of State Geologist. 



E. Aiken while hunting Prairie Chickens in Lake County, in August, 

 1869. He identified it, but did not preserve it. Near Tolleston, in 

 the same county, Mr. H. K. Coale obtained a male May 10, 1877. He 

 says: "Hearing a rustle in the grass, I looked down and saw a bird, 

 which ran like a mouse. It stuck its head under some leaves and 

 grass, leaving its tail exposed. I had to go back some distance to 

 shoot it." 



July 4, 1881, he visited the same locality again and found quite a 

 number of these birds confined to a restricted area. He obtained five 

 specimens. The males were in full song, and he is confident they 

 were breeding. Mr. J. G. Parker, Jr., collected a female, near Liver- 

 pool, Ind., May 18, 1895, and a pair July 4, 1896. He had previously 

 taken several west of Cheltenham Beach, Cook County, 111., April 29, 

 1886. He says the bird is loth to take wing from its shelter of weeds 

 and grasses, and when it does fly it goes but a short distance, and just 

 above the tops of the weeds, again alighting and skulking like a field 

 mouse. 



Two males were collected at English Lake, June, 29, 1891. Mr. 

 Ruthven Deane informs me that he spent July 26, 1891, making the 

 acquaintance of that species at the same locality. He reported seeing 

 about twenty-five specimens, of which two persons killed ten. They 

 were very shy and hard to collect, and had been there all summer; Mr. 

 Deane also observed them the latter part of June, 1894. Within five 

 days after receiving Mr. Deane's account of his first trip, my friend, 

 Mr. Chas. Dury, of Cincinnati, 0., wrote me that two of his friends 

 had visited English Lake in July and August. They found Henslow's 

 Sparrows rather common and breeding, and took some specimens, in- 

 cluding some young birds. An adult taken there was kindly presented 

 to me by Mr. Ralph Kellogg, one of the collectors. Mr. J. 0. Dunn in- 

 forms me Henslow's Sparrows were very common in a field of weeds 

 near the southeast comer of Bass (Old Cedar) Lake, Starke County, 

 Ind., late in Jialy, 1894. They were apparently breeding, but no nests 

 were found; two males were taken. One beautiful evening, 

 about 10:30 o'clock, a bird of this species was heard singing 

 near camj). July 24, 1895, the same gentleman, with Mr. 

 Wallace Craig, found it abundant in an extensive field of tall 

 weeds near Wilders, Ind. Mr. Dunn says of his experience 

 with them there, in "The Auk," Vol. XIL, October, 1895: "Hens- 

 slow's Sparrows seem to be quite numerous and f oimd over a consider- 

 able area in the prairies. They sing frequently, and may be found in 

 almost, if not quite, the hottest part of the day. The song is very 

 simple, being a very rude attempt at producing music. It consists. 



