DESCRIPTIVE LIST 



239 



The only specimen of Leconte's Sparrow so far recorded from North Carolina 

 was taken by C. S. Brimley on the edge of a marsh near Raleigh, April 21, 1894. 

 It can be expected to occur only as an accidental migrant or a winter visitor. 



FIG. 188. LECONTE'S SPARROW. 



228. Passerherbulus caudacutus (GmeL). SHARP-TAILED SPARROW. 



Description: Ads. General color of the upperparts a brownish olive-green; crown olive- 

 brown, with a blue-gray line through its center; gray ear-coverts, inclosed by ochraceous-buff 

 lines, one of which passes over the eye and one down the side of the throat ; feathers of the back 

 margined with grayish and sometimes whitish; bend of the wing yellow; tail-feathers narrow and 

 isharply pointed, the outer feathers much the shortest; breast and sides washed with buffy, paler 

 in summer, and distinctly streaked with black; middle of the throat and belly white or whitish. 

 "L., 5.85; W., 2.30; T., 1.90; B., .50" (DWIGHT). (Chap., Birds ofE. N. A.) 



Range. Salt-marshes of Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to North Carolina. 



Range in North Carolina. Salt-marshes of coast; so far, only recorded from the Beaufort 

 region and northward. 



FIG. 189. SHARP-TAILED SPARROW. 



The Sharp-tailed Sparrow is known in this State as a winter visitor in the neigh- 

 borhood of Beaufort and on Pea Island. Coues records it at the former place 

 as abundant from October until May, some occurring in September. Bishop 

 says it is a rather common winter resident in the marshes of Pea Island, giving 

 the date of May 11 (in 1901) as its latest spring appearance. Smithwick calls it 

 .a common summer resident in the marshes of the northeastern section of the State. 



229. Passerherbulus nelsoni nelsoni (Allen). NELSON'S SPARROW. 



Description. Similar to caudacutus, but smaller, the upperparts darker, the feathers of the 

 back more olive-brown and more broadly margined with whitish; the throat, breast, and sides 

 deeper ochraceous-buff, very slightly, if at all, streaked with blackish. "L., 5.50; W., 2.25; T., 

 1.90; B., .43" (DWIGHT). (Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. Mainly fresh-water marshes of Mississippi Valley, east in winter to Atlantic coast. 



Range in North Carolina. So far, only known from Pea Island. 



