448 HISTORY OF THE 



HABITAT. The Great Plains, north to Manitoba; south in 

 winter to Texas, and along the Gulf coast to Florida, South 

 Carolina and southern Illinois; breeding from Dakota and Min- 

 nesota northward. 



Sp. CHAB. Tail decidedly longer than wing, its graduation greater than 

 length of exposed culnien; bill small and slender, its depth at base less than 

 length from nostril; no dusky rictal or submalar streaks. Adult: Median crown 

 stripe buff anteriorly, the rest pale buffy grayish or dull buffy whitish; lateral 

 stripes streaked blackish and brownish, the former usually predominating (nearly 

 uniform black in summer); hind neck streaked chestnut and pale buffy or buffy 

 grayish; sides of head, including broad superciliary stripe, buffy (deeper, almost 

 ochraceous, in winter, paler, sometimes nearly white in summer); the lores and 

 ear coverts light grayish or brownish, -the latter bordered above by a blackish 

 streak, becoming larger posteriorly; anterior and lateral lower parts buffy, the 

 sides and flanks streaked with blackish; belly white; upper parts brownish, 

 spotted or striped with blackish and streaked with whitish or buffy. Young: 

 General color buff, deeper above, paler beneath, the belly whitish; upper parts 

 streaked and striped with blackish, the chest, sides and flanks more narrowly 

 streaked with the same. (Ridgway.) 



Stretch of 

 Length. wing. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Bill. 



Male 5.00 7.00 2.00 2.10 .68 .38 



Female... 4.85 6.50 1.95 2.00 .68 .38 



Iris dark brown; bill ridge dusky, rest flesh color; legs 

 and feet light flesh color; claws pale brown. 



This little ground bird inhabits the prairies, preferring the 

 low, moist lands where the grass is rank. It is quite a common 

 bird west of the Mississippi, but so shy and retiring it is seldom 

 noticed, skulking and hiding in the grass so closely that it is 

 next to impossible to force it to take wing. A hardy little bird. 

 As proof of this, I have seen several in the depth of winter, 

 at Neosho Falls, Kansas; and December 17th, 1878, one was 

 killed by a Shrike in the near vicinity. It was a very cold 

 day, and the ground deeply covered with snow. 



Mr. Ernest Thompson (Seton), on Manitoba birds, says: 



"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 name for this bird. But in spring 

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



