71 



This imported species is found resident throughout the State. They were in- 

 troduced at many places in the United States, first, so far as we know, at Brooklyn,. 

 N. Y., in 1850. They were introduced into Cincinnati in 1873, and first appeared 

 in Franklin County in 1878. Except through the harvest season they are perhaps 

 most common about the towns and cities. When harvest begins they, having for the 

 greater part, laid aside domestic cares, flock to the country, where the ripening 

 heads of small grain of all kinds are attacked. They continue to destroy it until it 

 is past all stages of manipulation and safe in the farmer's barn. I have seen the 

 cap sheaves of wheat, oats and barley with almost every grain shelled out at the 

 end of a week after it was put in shock. About town they are very destructive to 

 fruits and garden seeds. Of the growing garden crops, peas suffer most. As soon< 

 as the tender sprouts are out of the ground it is not uncommon for a flock of these- 

 sparrows to begin at some point in the ro>v and bite off the leaves from every vine r 

 completely destroying the crop. The U. S. Department of Agriculture has recently 

 published a very valuable report of the investigations concerning this sparrow.. 



GENUS AMMODRAMUS SWAINSON. 

 Subgenus PASSERCULUS Bonaparte. 

 198. Ammodramus sandwichensis savanna ( Wt7s.). SAVANNA SPARROW. 



Common migrant, usually found in flocks. In the Whitewater Valley they 

 are present throughout April, September and October. They may winter in 

 the southwestern part of the State, and it is probable that they are, in some 

 localities at least, summer residents. 



Subgenus COTURNICULUS Bonaparte. 



199. Ammodramus savannarum passerinus ( Wils.) GRASSHOPPER SPARROW; YELLOW- 

 WINGED t-pARROw; "CRICKET SPARROW." 



Common summer resident, frequenting meadows, pastures and fields of small 

 grain. Breeds. Its peculiar stridulating note has given it some of its names. 

 Arrives in southern Indiana about the middle of April (13-20). I have never seen 

 the young before the early part of July. Most of the birds disappear early ir* 

 August, although I have sometimes found a few the latter part of that month. 



200 Ammodramus henslowii (And.). HENSLOW'S SPARROW. 



Summer resident northward, perhaps only migrant southward ; breeds. It iff 

 exceedingly local in its distribution. It has been observed in a locality, of very 

 circumscribed limits near Tolleston, Lake County. There Mr. H. K. Coale found 

 it for the first time May 10, 1877, when he obtained a male. He notes concerning 

 this one : " Hearing a rustle in the grass, I looked down and saw a bird which 

 ran like a mouse. It stuck its head under some leaves and grass, leaving its tail 

 exposed. I had to back some distance to shoot it." July 4, 1881, Mr. Coale 

 again visited the same locality, found quite a number of these birds and obtained 

 five specimen?. The males were in full song, and he is confident they were breed- 

 ing. Mr. Ruthven Deane informs me that he recently saw a specimen killed, about 

 1888, at Water Valley, Ind., by Mr. Chas. E. Aiken. 



201. Ammodramus leconteii (And.). LECONTE'S SPARROW. 



Only known as a very rare migrant. The only record I know of its occur- 

 rence in the State is from the capture of a single specimen by myself, four miles 

 northwest of Brookville, March 12, 1884. The bird was sitting motionless on a 

 bush near the railroad track, and allowed me to approach near enough to determine 



