BIRDS OF INDIANA. 947 



They were next seen the following day, and a few days later four 

 were taken. The same authority reports them- April 16 and 19, 1896, 

 from the same vicinity. Mr. Eobert Eidgway says the latter part of 

 October, 1882, he found it numerous in the meadows of Sugar Creek 

 Prairie, Eichland County, 111., in company with the species last men- 

 tioned (Birds of 111., I., pp. 257, 258). . 



Mr. Ernest E. Thompson says of Leconte's Sparrow, in its sum- 

 mer home in Manitoba: "This bird frequents the damp meadows, 

 which are a mixture of red willows and sedgy-grass. It is commonly 

 found in the willows at all seasons, uttering its peculiar ventriloquial 

 tweete, tweete, whence I knew it as the 'Willow Tweete' long before 

 I ever heard of Leconte or any other name for this bird. But in spring 

 the male may be seen perched on some low twig in the meadow, pour- 

 ing out its little soul in a tiny, husky double note, like 'reese-reese.' 

 This is so thin and so weak as to be inaudible at thirty yards, yet in 

 uttering it he seems to labor hard, his beak being wide open and 

 pointed straight up to the zenith; he delivers it with such unction 

 that afterwards he seems quite exhausted, and sits very still until at 

 length the fit comes on again, as it is sure to do in about ten sec- 

 onds. 



"On the 26th of June, 1882, I found the nest and eggs, which, I 

 believe, were previously unknown. The nest was by a willow bush in 

 a damp meadow; it was apparently on the ground, but really raised 

 six inches, being on a tangle of grass, etc. It was composed entirely 

 of fine grass. The eggs three in number were of a delicate pink, 

 with a few spots of brownish and of black toward the large end. The 

 pink was lost on blowing them. One measured .75 by .50 inches" 

 (The Auk, Vol. II., January, 1885, pp. 23, 24; see also Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., Vol. XIII., p. 596). Prof. W. W. Cooke says it winters 

 and possibly breeds in Illinois (Bird Mig. Miss. Valley, p. 191). 



Subgenus AMMODRAMUS. 



214, (549a). Ammodramus caudacutus nelsoni ALLEN. 



Nelson's Sparrow. 



Tail feathers, narrow and sharp-pointed; outer ones much the short- 

 est, umber-brown, darkest along the shafts; bill, not large; crown, 

 olive-brown, divided by a middle stripe of blue-gray; breast, sides, 

 throat, a stripe over the eye and sides of head, excepting grayish ear- 

 coverts, deep ochraceous; back, brown or olive-brown, feathers mar- 

 gined with whitish; tertials, dusky, bordered with rusty white or rusty. 

 Below, belly white; the ochraceous breast, throat and sides, faintly, or 

 not at all, streaked with dusky; edge of wing, yellow. 



