186 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



and 3 and June 2, 1895; April 11, April 25 and May 15, 1898. 

 At St. Louis it is a rare transient visitant and has only been 

 taken a few times: September 24, 1876; April 28 and May 7, 



1886, and May 10, 1904. Mr. 0. C. Poling found it quite common 

 in pastures and stubble fields near Quincy, 111., early in May, 



1887, and Mr. W. Praeger met with it near Keokuk. Trippe 

 mentions the species as common in spring, 1874, in Decatur Co., 

 la., and it is said to be an abundant migrant in Nebraska, ar- 

 riving in the first week in May, remaining till June and reap- 

 pearing in early September and remaining through October. 

 There can therefore be no doubt that its apparent scarcity is 

 only due to oversight, though it is distinguishable from other 

 Spizellae by the conspicuous ashy collar and ashy median stripe 

 on the crown, bordered by dark brown streaks, a dark line on 

 the side of the chin and, besides a white line over the eye, pale 

 brown yellowish upper parts and small size. 



*563. Spizella pusilla (Wils.). Field Sparrow. 



Fringilla pusilla. FrinyiUa juncorum. Emberiza pusilla. Spizella agrestis. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern United States and Southern Canada, 

 west to eastern Kansas, Nebraska, Red River Valley, Lake 

 Winnipeg and Qu'Apelle; north to southern Ontario, rarely to 

 Quebec and Nova Scotia. Breeds from upper Georgia and 

 South Carolina, northwestern Florida, central Alabama and 

 Mississippi, central Texas northward and winters from southern 

 New Jersey, Virginia, Kentucky and southern Missouri south- 

 ward to Florida and Texas, occasionally further north. 



In Missouri a common and generally distributed summer resi- 

 dent. From St. Louis southward the first singing males are 

 heard at their breeding stands in ordinary seasons in the first or 

 second week of March ; north of the Missouri River in the third, 

 and in the region of Keokuk in the fourth week of March. In 

 unusually backward seasons their arrival may be retarded from 

 one to two weeks. The bulk of the species is due from the mid- 

 dle of March in the south to the first week of April in the north. 

 Transients in small troops are present the last of March and in 

 early April. They sing all summer, sometimes till September, 

 and fresh eggs were found in September. From the last week of 

 September to the middle of October they are found in small 

 flocks, probably transients, while some of ours remain, associated 

 with other sparrows, till the middle of November. Single indi- 



