THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. 137 



was taken by Mr. Harry Swarth at Worth in our area, on Oc- 

 tober 12, 1905. 



The range of Leconte's Sparrow extends from Manitoba 

 southward (in winter) to Texas, and from the eastern portion 

 of the Plains eastward through the prairie districts of the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley, wintering in South Carolina, Alabama and 

 Florida. 



Ammodramus nelsoni Allen. Nelson's Sparrow. 



Ammodramus caudacutus var. nelsoni ALLEN, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. 



Hist., XVII, March, 1875, 293. 

 Ammodramus nelsoni NORTON, Proc. Portland Soc. Nat. Hist., II, 



March 15, 1897, 102. 

 Popular synonym: NELSON'S SHABP-TAILED FINCH. 



Nelson's Sparrow is of peculiar interest to the ornithologists 

 of our vicinity, for the type specimens upon which Mr. Allen 

 based his opinion that it should be made a variety of the sharp- 

 tailed sparrow Ammodramus caudacutus, of the salt marshes 

 of the Atlantic, came from within our limits. Mr. E. W. Nel- 

 son, writing to Mr. Allen regarding the finding of this species, 

 says* "While collecting birds on the Calumet Marshes at Ains- 

 worth, Illinois, September 17, 1874, I noticed a number of small 

 sparrows in the tall grass along the Calumet River. At first I 

 thought they were Swamp Sparrows; observing a difference I 

 shot one and at once recognizing it, I went in search of more. 

 Within an hour I had killed eight fine specimens. They were very 

 abundant, as I must have seen over one hundred in walking 

 about a mile and a half. They were very difficult to kill, owing 

 to their habit of rising suddenly, darting off in an irregular 

 manner for a few rods, and then dropping into the grass and 

 lying so close that it was almost impossible to put them up 

 again * * * Dr. Velie, while collecting near Ainsworth, October 

 7, also shot several specimens of the Sharp-tailed Finch, about 

 the sloughs which are found abundantly in this locality." Mr. 

 Nelson also saysrf "The I2th of June, 1875, I saw several of 

 these birds in the dense grass bordering Lake Calumet, where 

 they were undoubtedly breeding. The first of October, 1875, 

 I again found them abundant on the Calumet Marsh, and also 

 found them numerous in the wild rice bordering Grass Lake, 

 Lake County, Illinois, the loth of November the same year." 



*Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. XVII, March, 1875, 293. 



tBirds of Northeastern Illinois, Bull, of the Essex Institute, Vol. VIII, 1876, 107. 



