THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 161 



The nests of these birds are firmly fastened between 

 tussocks in swamps and marshes and there are two broods 

 each season. The eggs are either three or four in number, 

 of a white or soiled white with fine brown spots, most nu- 

 merous near the large end, and four-fifths by three-fifths 

 of an inch in size. 



The birds breed along the Atlantic coast from Maine to 

 North Carolina and in the winter are distributed along 

 the coast of the South Atlantic States. In New Jersey 

 they are very abundant in the salt water marshes and 

 along the Delaware. 



Their song is short, gasping and husky, described by 

 Dr. Dwight as lic-se-e-e-oop. 



They feed on sea food with scraps of shellfish and drift. 



Two other Sharp-tailed Sparrows occur in the United 

 States: the Acadian Sharptail, replacing the present 

 bird on the coasts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, 

 and the other, Nelson's Sharptail, of the fresh water 

 marshes of the upper Mississippi valley. Both occur in 

 New Jersey during migrations. They closely resemble 

 the common Sharptail but are rather smaller. The 

 Acadian is duller all over, with olive tints below and with 

 no light streaks above, while the Nelson's is brighter colored ; 

 the breast bright buff with scarcely any spots, and 

 the light streaks above very bright and nearly pure white. 



Sparrow, Sivamp. Length, five and three-fourths 

 inches; extent, eight inches; bill, half an inch long, dusky 

 above and bluish below; crown, bay in young birds and 

 in winter streaked with black and gray; forehead, black; 

 throat, white; a gray line over the eye and a black line 

 behind the eye; back, black, skirted with bay; breast, 

 light ash, in winter suffused with a brownish tint: middle 

 of belly, white; rump, grayish brown; sometimes streaked 

 with black; sides, pale grayish brown; tail, grayish 

 brown; wings, brown, with black spots, long feathers 



