PASSERCULUS SAVANA : SAVANNA SPARROW. 239 



its favorite haunts being the salt marshes bordering the 

 sea-shore, but may be found in large numbers in any 

 open ground throughout the interior. I should not be 

 surprised to learn that it occasionally winters in shel- 

 tered places in the Connecticut valley ; but am not 

 aware that such is actually the case. The bird usu- 

 ally makes its appearance early in April, and soon be- 

 comes generally distributed. Many pass on to more 

 northerly breeding grounds, but many nestle with us ; 

 during the fall migrations in October, individuals are 

 again to be seen in profusion, and the loiterers are not 

 all gone till late in November. It is a thoroughly ter- 

 restrial bird, being one of those that best deserves the 

 name of "Ground Sparrow," so indiscriminately ap- 

 plied to several distinct species in the vernacular of 

 rural Yankees. It seldom alights, even for a moment, 

 anywhere excepting upon the ground, where it runs 

 swiftly with pretty steps, threading its way like a mouse 

 through the grass. Always solicitous of concealment, 

 it takes but short wayward flights when forced to 

 rise on wing, soon dropping again into the favoring 

 shelter of the herbage. A rather weak and drawling 

 song is heard during the mating season ; but this is 

 not at all a vocal bird, and has at most times only a 

 slight chirping note. The nest, as might be supposed, 

 is placed on the ground rather, in the ground, as it 

 is sunken till the brim comes flush with the surface ; it 

 is a slight affair, of a few grass-stems, just to keep 

 the eggs from the earth, and distinguishable in no way 

 from those of several other ground-nesters. When 

 caught in the act of incubation, the parent often flut- 

 ters and tumbles along in the endeavor to attract atten- 

 tion to herself, and thus decoy the intruder away from 



