FliIX(aLLlD.E — THE FIMCUES. 535 



if 



of luiiler parts white. (Juter tail-featluTs uikI priuiarios edged with white. Length, b.iJO ; 

 wing. 2.70; tail. *_M(». 



Young. Grouml-i-idor of the nit))er pait> (ox< ept wings and tail) light oehraoeous, 

 more brownisli on top of ln-ad, np[>er part of back, and on uj>per tail-<-overts ; the' streaks 

 blacker and more eonspic-nons than in the ailult. iJeneath witli an ochraceons tinge 

 anteriorly, the streaks ])roadei-, and deeper black, than in the adnlt, thongh less sharplv 

 defined. The infra-niaxillarv str»'ak exi)anded into a broad lilackish elongated blotch. 



IIab. Eastern Noifh America to tin- Missouri plains, and northwest to Alaska. Tuba, 

 winter (C.vc. Jour. IV, 0). 



Specimens vary C(nisi»leral)ly in size, color, and shape of bill, l»ut the 

 aveiage is as dcscrihcd. Spring; birds have the markin^^'s sharper and 

 clearer, the dark streaks with little ur no suffusion of rufous. 



Habits. The Savanna Sparrow is an abiuidant sijecies througliout Xorth 

 America, from the Atlantic sea-board to the Great Plains. It is, liowever, 

 everywhere much less commou in the "interior than nearer the shore. The 

 Smithsonian specimens are from i)oints as far south as Georgia and Louisi- 

 ana, and as far west as the Black Hills of Wyoming. It passes nortli through 

 Massachusetts, from the first to tlie nuddle of A})ril, and some remain to breed 

 in the eastern part of the State. Mr. ^laynard speaks of it as a common 

 summer resident. Tliis, hijwever, is true only of a few restricted maritime 

 localities, but is not so of the entire eastern portion of the Stale. It occurs 

 both in the salt marshes of Charles Kiver and in the vicinity of Fresh Tond, 

 but I could never trace it in anv of the neigldjoring' towns. It is occasion- 

 ally met with in inland situations where we wouLl not naturally look for it. 

 In the summer of 18G'.>, ^[r. William Ihvwster found quite a colony of these 

 birds in an open fiehl near the Glen House, at the foot of Mt. Washhigton. 

 They liad nests with eggs the last of July and the first of xViigust. 



In Western Massachusetts, according to ]Mr. Allen, it rarely ("r never stops 

 to breed. In Western ]\Iaine, Mr. Verrill mentions it as a common summer 

 visitant, and as breeding tliere in the latter part of ^lay. In the vicinity of 

 Eastport, and in all the islands of the (J rand ^lenan group, I found tliese 

 Sparrows very abundant. Tliey almost invariably built tlieir nests in de- 

 pressions on the edge or just under the projecting to}»s of liigh IduHs of land 

 near the sea. They were ]»y fm- the most abundant of the land-birds, and it 

 was quite common to find tlieir nests in close pro.Kimity one to another. • 

 Tliey arrive there in April, and leave in Sei>tendxM-, i>assing slowly south 

 more in reference to the abundance of tlieir food than the severity of the 

 season, until the weather becomes very severe, when they all disappear. They 

 wintcT in the Soiithern States, from Virginia to Georgia, and are especially 

 abundant in the Carolinas. Dr. Coues states that they were very commou 

 about Columbia from Oct(d»er to A])ril, moving in large' f.ocks and associ- 

 ating with other species. Wilson states that he met with this species, IVom 

 Savannah to Xew York, in all the low country, and regarded it as resident 

 in thos ' places, but rarely found at a distatice from tlie sea-shore. He found 

 them Copecially numerous at Cireat Lgg Harbor, N. J. 



