120 BLACK AND WHITE SHORE FINCH. 



I was making my way along one of these novel paths on the seventeenth of March, 

 1872, keeping a sharp lookout for birds, at the same time carefully watching the ground at 

 my feet in order to detect the presence of the venomous water moccasins which were more 

 numerous here than I had ever seen them elsewhere, when my attention was attracted by 

 a little black" bird which rose from the high grass about twenty yards from me, hovered a 

 moment, uttering a feeble sputtering song, then dropped down and disappeared. I saw it 

 but a moment, yet I was convinced that it was something that I had never seen before. 

 I laboriously made my way to the spot, but was unable to start it even after the most vig- 

 orous efforts. This was my first sight of the new Ammodromus, for I was certain that it 

 belonged to this genus and in a day or two my suspicions were confirmed, for an assistant 

 brought in a specimen which he had taken in the place I had first seen it. We did not 

 find any more near Salt Lake nor did I see a single specimen, but shortly after I found 

 them quite common on the marshes of Indian River. Yet I only took seven specimens 

 there, for the birds are exceedingly difficult to obtain as they are not only very shy, but 

 after once starting will seldom rise a second time, remaining concealed in the thick grass. 

 In flight as well as habit this species resembles the Sharp-tailed Finch much more nearly 

 than it does the Gray Shore Finch. The song, or rather the crude attempt at a song, for 

 the low sputtering notes scarcely deserve the title, is given while the bird hovers in air 

 suspended over the same spot, after which it drops quickly into the grass. These are the 

 only notes that I ever heard them utter, except a sharp chirp of alarm which is given when 

 they are disturbed. Then one will appear for a moment on the top of a waving spear of 

 grass, but only for a moment; the next instant it is gone. 



The Black and White Finches inhabit the dry marshes where the grass grows in patch- 

 es surrounded by a peculiar species which is very much lower and which becomes tangled. 

 The birds live in the former, but build there nests in the latter, or I have every reason to 

 believe that they do, as during the latter part of April I started them many times from 

 the herbage, and they exhibited the utmost solicitude whenever I approached certain spots, 

 but I failed completely to find the nest although I searched for it many times. This spe- 

 cies was quite common on the marshes of Indian River, just below Dummctt's Grove, but 

 I never saw a specimen north of Haulover Canal. They were very abundant on the upper 

 end of Merritt's Island where I obtained a few. 



These birds are migratory as they are not to be found in Florida during winter, but 

 where they go during this season I am unable to state, but judge that they may be found 

 on the Bahama Islands, and it is also probable that those I found were merely a colony 

 from that place, where they will doubtless be found to occur in large numbers. They are 

 not, however, to be met with on the Florida Keys, but the character of the vegetation is 

 not conducive to their habits as there arc no grassy savannahs. 



In comparing this species with the Gray Shore Finch we find that it has entirely 

 different habits; first, the song is quite unlike that of maritimus, second, it breeds nearly 

 two months later, and thirdly, it is migratory while the other species is a constant resident 

 in Florida. 



