310 USEFUL BIRDS. 



Savannah Sparrow. 



Passerculus sanchvichensis savanna. 



Length. — About five and one-half inches. 



Adult. — Brown above ; feathers generally pale (or gray) edged, and dark-streaked ; 

 a narrow whitish stripe through crown, and a yellow line above the eye ; 

 white or buffy below, thickly streaked with dusky ; a cluster of streaks 

 on the breast is sometimes gathered into a blotch, as in the Song Si^arrow, 

 but the tail is short and notched, rather than long and rounded, as in the 

 Song Sparrow, and not noticeably marked. 



Young. — Similar ; colors more suffused ; no yellow over eye. 



Nest. — On ground. 



Eggs. — Bluish-white, marked thickly with brown. 



Season. — April to November. 



The Savanna Sparrow is a common summer resident along 

 portions of the seacoast, and through the central and western 

 parts of the State. It is found along river valleys, in upland 

 meadows, fertile fields, and pastures. In eastern and south- 

 ern Massachusetts it breeds onl}^ locally or near the coast, 

 but in Worcester County and through the central and -svestern 

 parts of the State it is common in favorable localities. 



Although a bird of the meadow or savanna, it is common 

 in many open fields and pastures of the hill country. It has a 

 Sparrow-like chirp, but its notes and song otherwise much re- 

 semble those of insects, particularly the chirping of crickets, 

 although the song is perhaps a trifle more musical than that 

 of the Grasshopper Sparrow. Mr. Hoft'man descrilies it well 

 as two or three preliminary chirps, followed by two long, 

 insect-like trills, the second a little lower in key than the 

 first, thus : tsip, tsij), (stp, fseeeeeeeee, tse-ee-ee-ee . The song 

 is often given from a stone, post, or fence. This bird is 

 rarely seen ofl* the ground, an occasional perch on a stone 

 heap or fence being usually the only deviation from this rule ; 

 but it sometimes perches fifteen to twenty-five feet up in a 

 tree, or flies from tree to tree along the edge of a field. Al- 

 though it often lives and breeds in the hill country, it may 

 be seen in fresh-water marshes durins^ miofrations, and fre- 

 quents such spots as are dear to Rails and Swamp Sparrows. 

 In the south it is an inhabitant of wet fresh-water meadows 

 or savannas. 



Nearly half the food of the Savanna Sparrow while in 



