288 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



and the rolling sandhills of the Long Island coast, searching carefully 

 among the bunches of beach grass, will surely find these sparrows through- 

 out the winter season. They rise rapidly when disturbed and, darting 

 away with hurried flight, pitch down again to conceal themselves as soon 

 as they are two or three shotgun ranges from the hunter. They frequently 

 utter a faint " sip " as they fly or as they hop about searching for food. 



Passerculus sandwichensis savanna (Wilson) 

 Savannah Sparrow 



Plate 8 1 



Fringilla savanna Wilson. Amer. Orn. 1811. 3:55. pi. 22, fig. 3 

 Emberiza savanna DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 161, fig. 155 

 Passerculus sandwichensis savanna A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 

 1910. p. 254. No. S42a 

 sandwichensis, of Sandwich island, Alutians; savdnna, a meadow (Spanish) 



Description. Upper parts streaked with brownish black, dull rufous 

 and ashy, the general tone being darker and more heavily streaked than 

 the Vesper sparrow; also smaller than that species, and the tail shorter; 

 the crown has a median streak of whitish; pale sulphur yellow stripe over 

 the eye. Under parts white, tinged with buffy and streaked with blackish 

 on the breast and sides; feet flesh colored. 



Length 5.3-5.9 inches; extent 8.8-9.2; wing 2.65-2.9; tail 2-2.2; 

 bill .41 ; tarsus .82. 



Distribution. The Savannah sparrow is confined to eastern North 

 America, fron central Keewatin and northern Ungava to northern Iowa, 

 Pennsylvania and Connecticut; winters from New Jersey and Indiana to 

 northeastern Mexico and Cuba. In New York it is an uncommon summer 

 resident in the coastal district, except, perhaps, at the eastern end of Long 

 Island, but is a common transient visitant in this section of the State and 

 also an occasional or fairly common winter resident. In other parts of 

 the State it is an abundant transient visitant, and a fairly common or 

 common summer resident throughout central and western New York 

 and in the Adirondack district. Throughout the interior of the State it 

 is less common as a breeding species than the Vesper sparrow, but decidedly 

 more common and more generally distributed than the Grasshopper sparrow. 



