302 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



to be a common summer resident on the prairies of Indiana. Breeds 

 also on the weedy prairies of Illinois and Missouri. Messrs. Keyes and 

 Williams record it as a common summer resident in Iowa, and Col. 

 Goss mentions it as a summer resident of Kansas. Mr. L,. Jones in- 

 forms me that in Iowa the favorite resorts of this Sparrow during the 

 breeding season are neglected fields and pasture lands. 



Its nest is placed on the ground, sometimes in a slight depression, 

 beneath a tussock of grass ; the composition is of fine and coarse 

 grasses, with a few cow hairs. 



The eggs, Mr. Jones says, are deposited about May 25. The bird's 

 habits, nest, and eggs are described as being similar to those of the 

 Yellow- winged Sparrow (A. savannarum passerinus), but the eggs are 

 not pure white in ground-color, having a greenish or grayish- white tint, 

 profusely dotted and blotched with several shades of brown and lilac 

 shell markings. They are four or five in number, and average .75 x .57. 



548. Ammodramus leconteii (AUD.) [200.] 



lieConte's Sparrow. 



Hab. Great Plains, north to Manitoba, migrating south and east in winter through Illinois, Iowa, 

 Kansas, etc., to South Carolina and Gulf States. 



A common bird on the western prairies, but seldom observed on 

 account of its habit of hiding in the grass. Breeds from Dakota and 

 Minnesota northward to Manitoba. Dr. Agersborg found a nest of 

 this species containing five eggs, June 19, 1883, in Southeastern 

 Dakota. They were ready, to hatch ; in coloration and shape, looked 

 like miniature eggs of the Horned Lark. 



Mr. Ernest E. Thompson states that in Manitoba, the bird "is 

 commonly found in the willows at all seasons, uttering its peculiar 

 ventriloqual tweete, tweete, whence I knew it as the * Willow- tweete,' 

 long before I ever heard of Leconte, or of any name for this bird." 

 Mr. Thompson bescribes a nest with eggs of this bird, which were, we 

 believe, previously unknown. u The nest was by a willow bush in a 

 damp meadow ; it was apparently on the ground, but really raised six 

 inches, being on the tangled grass, etc. It was composed entirely of 

 fine grass. The eggs three in number were of a delicate pink, 

 with a few spots of brownish and of black towards the large end. The 

 pink was lost in blowing. One measured .75 x .50 inches.* 



549. Ammodramus caudacutus (GMEL.) [201.] 



Sharp-tailed Sparrow. 



Hab. Salt marshes of the Atlantic coast, from Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia to North 

 Carolina. 



The Sharp-tailed Finch breeds abundantly in the salt marshes of 



* Auk, Vol. V., pp. 23-24. 



