9 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



acquaintance. , They probably do not occur to the northward 

 of Massachusetts, where they are chiefly confined to a few lo- 

 calities, such as the salt-water marshes of Charles River, and 

 those at Ipswich. These places they reach in April, and do 

 not leave until October, or even the latter part of that month. 

 They sometimes frequent the fresh-water marshes, but gener- 

 ally prefer the sea-coast and its neighborhood. They run very 

 nimbly, and make their way so cleverly among the rushes and 

 tall grass that one cannot easily see them except by "flushing" 

 them, when they take a short flight and immediately drop to 

 conceal themselves. They are already very rare in this State, 

 and, I fear, will be soon exterminated here, as, from their 

 scarcity, they are unwisely persecuted every year by enter- 

 prising naturalists. Their extermination is facilitated by their 

 confinement to a few places, where they may be considered, in 

 a broad sense of the term, colonial. Dr. Brewer says that 

 their flight '" is quite different from that of any other bird," 

 and as I* have myself observed, that " in flying they drop their 

 tails very low." 



(d). Their single ordinary note is "rather more mellow than 

 that of the Sea-side Finch," but their song has little or no 

 merit, and consists of but a few notes. 



X. COTURNICULUS 



(A) PASSERINUS. Yellow-winged Sparrow. 



(A summer-resident in Massachusetts, but in many parts 

 rare.) 



(a). About five inches long. Crown, very dark, with a 

 brownish-3'ellow median line, and a lighter superciliary line. 

 Jnterscapulars, dull bay, black-streaked, and edged with brown- 

 ish-yellow. Rump, brown and gray intermixed. Beneath, 

 brownish-yellow or buff (obsoletely streaked) ; belly, almost 

 white. Wings edged with bright yellow, and with a patch 

 (the lesser covert) yellowish ; otherwise corresponding to the 

 back and tail. 



(6). The nest is usually placed on the ground, in a field or 

 pasture, is often lined with hairs, and is here finished in the 



