SHARP-TAILED SPARROW. 

 shore finch, 



Ammodramus caudacutus. 



Char. Above, brownish gray tinged with olive ; crown darker, with 

 median stripe of ashy gray and two stripes of black; back streaked with 

 black; stripes of buff above and below eyes meeting behind ear-coverts; 

 wings edged with yellow; tail-feathers narrow, with acutely pointed tips; 

 below, dull white, breast and sides tinged with buff and streaked with 

 black. Length about 534^ inches. 



Nest. In a salt-marsh or wet meadow, amid a cluster of reeds or tuft 

 of sedges, to the stems of which it is sometimes fastened; a somewhat 

 bulky structure of grass and weed-stems, lined with fine grass. 



Eggs. 4-5 ; dull white or tinged with buff or green, thickly spotted 

 with brown and lilac; 0.75 X 0.55. 



The Shore Finch is an inhabitant of the low islands and 

 marshy sea-coasts from Massachusetts to Texas, living on 

 small shrimps, marine insects, and probably grass seeds, mov- 

 ing through the rank herbage nearly with the same agility and 

 timidity as a Swamp Sparrow, to which in structure of the 

 feet and stoutness of the bill it bears considerable affinity. 



