AMMODRAMUS MARITIMUS : SEA-SIDE SPARROW. 251 



fairly swarmed in their favorite haunts." Later Mr. 

 Brown states that half a dozen pairs remained during 

 the summer 1879 in the marshes of Scarborough, Me., 

 and he believes it to be a regular summer resident of 

 that locality. 



SEA-SIDE SPARROW. 

 AMMODRAMUS MARITIMUS ( Wils.) Sw. 



Chars. Above, dark olive-gray, obscurely streaked on the back and 

 crown with dusky and pale gray ; below, dull white, washed with 

 the color of the back along the sides, and often tinged with 

 brownish elsewhere, the breast and sides with obscure dusky 

 streaks ; some vague dark markings on the side of the head. 

 Lore and edge of wing yellow, in decided contrast to the rest of 

 the dull dark colors. Wings and tail plain dusky, with slight 

 olivaceous edgings of the feathers, the wing-coverts and seconda- 

 ries also somewhat margined with brown. Bill plumbeous ; feet 

 dark. Rather larger than A. caudacutus : length, 5.75-6.25; 

 wing, 2.25~2'.5o; tail, 2.00 ; bill, 0.55 ; tarsus, 0.90. 



There has long been some uncertainty respecting the 

 presence of this bird in New England, perhaps largely 

 due to the statement made by Coues in 1868, that he 

 found it abundant " as far north as New Hampshire " 

 (Pr. Essex Inst., v, 1868, p. 282), where others have 

 since failed to find it at all. Dr. Coues himself informs 

 me that this record arose in a slip of the memory on his 

 part, the birds which he found in plenty at Rye Beach, 

 in the fall of 1860, having been Sharp-tailed Flinches. 

 As already stated in speaking of the last species, the 

 Sea-side Sparrow is more southerly, and is not yet 

 known to proceed beyond the Massachusetts coast, 

 though there is every probability that, as a bird of 



