240 SEASIDE SPARROW 



and evening. It is short and gasping, and only 

 less husky than the somewhat similar perform- 

 ance of the Seaside Sparrow." (Dr. Jonathan 

 Dwight, Jr.) 



The Sharp-tailed Sparrow is one of the birds 

 whose tails must have been modified by their hab- 

 its. The Swift, as we have seen, is an extreme 

 example of the specialized tail (see Fig. 214, 

 p. 353), and the Woodpeckers' tails are pointed 

 for bracing. (See Fig. 213, p. 353.) But the 

 pointed type is found in Meadowlarks, Bobo- 

 links (see Fig. 211, p. 353), and some of the 

 Sparrows that live among the grasses. (See Fig. 

 148, p. 239.) Why others, like the Vesper Spar- 

 row, whose lives are spent in the same meadows, 

 have the unmodified square form (see Fig. 60, p. 

 119) is one of the many interesting questions for 

 field students to gather statistics on. Is the habit 

 of steadying the body by pressing the tail against 

 grass-stalks or reeds confined to birds with pointed 

 tails ? 



Seaside Sparrow : Ammodramus maritimjLs and races. 



Bill long and pointed; above, grayish olive; below, buffy 

 streaked with gray ; throat white, inclosed by gray and dusky 

 lines; yellow line over eye and on bend of wing. JLength, 6 

 inches. 



GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION. Salt marshes of Atlantic and 

 Gulf coast ; breeding as far north as Massachusetts, and win- 

 tering from Virginia southward. 



" Like most marsh-loving birds, Seaside Spar- 



