NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 373 



547a. WESTERN HENSLOW'S SPARROW. Ammodramus henslowii occi- 

 dentalis Brewst. Geog. Dist. South Dakota. 



For a description of this comparatively newly-known race see William Brewster's 

 article in "The Auk" for April, 1891, page 145. I have no reliable information re- 

 garding the nesting and eggs of this subspecies, but in all probability they are identical 

 with those of the eastern A. Jienslowii. 



548. LECONTE'S SPARROW. Ammodramus leconteii (Aud.) Geog. Dist. 

 From the Plains eastward to Illinois and Indiana, and from Manitoba south in winter 

 to South Carolina, Florida and Texas. 



It is now certain that Mr. Walter Raine and Mr. G. F. Dippie, of Toronto, Ont., 

 secured an authentic nest and eggs of this species in the vicinity of Reaburn, Mani- 

 toba. Mr. E. Arnold, of Battle Creek, Michigan, appears to have taken a nest con- 

 taining four eggs in the same region. Mr. Dippie says: "Leconte's Sparrows are 

 fairly numerous in the vicinity of Reaburn, Manitoba. Their peculiar note can be 

 heard both day and night in fine weather; the only sound I can compare it to is the 

 note of the grasshopper. It is one of the most difficult small birds to collect that 

 I know of. They are great skulkers; I have often followed them guided by their 

 chirping in the grass, until I was sure the bird was not more than a few yards away, 

 then he would suddenly "crowd on all sail" and dart away at a high rate of speed, 

 gyrating from side to side in a manner that would test the skill of any collector. On 

 June 18th Mr. W. Raine, then my companion at Reaburn, discovered a small nest 

 containing five small, speckled eggs, which we felt sure were the eggs of the Leconte's 

 Sparrow, as the birds were in the vicinity all the time. The locality was carefully 

 noted and we visited it four or five times a day. On the morning of the 21st upon 

 wakening we found it raining, but in a short time we were cautiously approaching 

 the nest. When within a few yards the bird flushed and and by a lucky shot I knocked 

 it over and in another moment I had in my hand the parent bird, Leconte's Sparrow. 

 On the 19th, while walking over the prairie we almost tramped upon a small bird as 

 it fluttered from under our feet and a short search revealed a nest containing four 

 young birds and an addled egg. The egg corresponded exactly with the others, the 

 nest also was identical and the glimpse we had of the bird made it doubtless that it 

 was another nest of Leconte's Sparrow. The nests were composed of fine grass, 

 cup-shaped and deep, carefully concealed in the center of a thick tuft of grass. The 

 eggs are greenish white ground color, thickly speckled with pale ashy-brown and the 

 average size is .65x.50 inches." 



549. SHARP-TAILED SPARROW. Ammodramus caudacutus (Gmel.) Geog. 

 Dist. Salt marshes of the Atlantic coast, from Prince Edward Island and Nova 

 Scotia to North Carolina. 



The Sharp-tailed Finch breeds abundantly in the salt marshes of the Atlantic 

 coast from North Carolina northward, and it is commonly found associated in the 

 same places with the Seaside Finch, A. maritimus. They keep closely in the shelter 

 of the rank salt reeds and herbage, where the nest is built. This is fastened to the 

 sedges and composed of grasses, lined with finer material of the same. The nesting 

 season is in May and June, and a second set of eggs may be found in July. While 

 the nidification of this species and the Seaside Finch is essentially the same, Mr. 

 Shick states that on the New Jersey coast, the nest of the Sharp-tail is not built so 

 bulky as that of the former. Both species are common in the salt marshes at the 

 mouths of creeks and rivers along the Atlantic coast. Mr. Norris has a typical set of 



