40 NnllTII AMHKICAN r.IKDS. 



ami i'^'«^s. Dr. Alfxaiulcr ( Jcrliardt also found these Sparrows common at 

 VaiiK'H's Station, in the northern jtart of (•lenrj^na. Professor .Toseph heconte 

 has taken it near Savannali, and Mr. W. 1.. Jones has also ohtained several 

 s]>eeiniens in Lil)erty County, in the same State. 



After meeting with tliis sjjecies on the Edisto, Dr. Baehman ascertained, 

 upon searching for tliem in tlie vicinity of Charlestown, that tliey breed in 

 small nunihers on the pine barrens, about six miles north of tliat city. He 

 was of the opini(>n that it is by no means so rare in tliat State as has been 

 sii])po.sed, but that it is more often heard than seen. When he first heard 

 it, the notes so doselv resembled those of the Towliee I>untin«; that for a 

 while he mistook them for tliose of that bird. Their greater sf>ftness jind 

 some slight variations at last induced him to suspect that tlie bird was 

 something different, and led him to go in jmrsuit. After that it was ipiite a 

 common thini^ for him to hear as manv as five or six in the course of a morn- 

 ing's ride, but he found it almost impossible to get even a sight of the bird. 

 This is owing, not so much to its being so wild, as to the habit it has of 

 darting from the tall pine-trees, on which it usually sits to warble out its 

 melodious notes, and concealing itself in the tall broom-grass that is almost 

 invariably found in the places it freipients. As soon as it alights it runs off, 

 in the manner of a mouse, and hides itself in the grass, and it is extremely 

 ditficult to get a siiilit of it afterwards. 



It was supposed l>y Dr. Bachman — correctly, as it has been ascertained — 

 to breed on the jiround, where it is always to be found when it is not sinjirinfr. 

 He never met with its nest. In June, ISo^^, he observed two pairs of these 

 l)irds, each having four young. They were pretty well fledged, aud were fol- 

 lowing their parents along the low scrub-oaks of the ])ine lands. 



Dr. Bachman regarded this bird as decidedly the finest songster of the 

 Sparrow family with which he was acquainted. Its notes are descril;)ed as 

 very loud for the size of the bird, and capable of being heard at a consider- 

 able distance in the pine woods where it occurs, and where at that season 

 it is the only singer. 



He also states that, by the middle of November, they have all disap- 

 peared, ])robably migrating farther south. It is quite probable that they 

 do not go bevond the limits of the United States, and that some remain in 

 South Carolina during the whole of winter, as on the Gth of February, the 

 coldest part of the year, Dr. Bachman found one of them in the long grass 

 near Charleston. 



Mr. Audubon says that on his return from Florida, in June, 1832, travel- 

 ling through both the Carolinas, he observed many of these Finches on the 

 sides of the roads cut through the pine woods of South Carolina. They 

 filled the air with their melodies. He traced them as far as the boundary 

 line of North Caron...*, but saw none within the limits of that State. They 

 were particularly abundant about the (Jreat Santee Iliver. 



This Finch, hitherto assumed to be an excdusively southeastern species, has 



