Widmann — A Preliminary Catalog of the Birds of Missouri. 175 



should be looked for in western Missouri, as it has been secured 

 several times in eastern Nebraska. Dr. E. Coues says that it 

 has been observed usually in company with P. ornatus, and Dr. 

 J. A. Allen writes: ^'In habits, notes and general appearance, 

 it is scarcely distinguishable, at a little distance, from the Chest- 

 nut-collared Bunting." 



*540. PooECETES GRAMINEUS (Gmel.). Vesper Sparrow. 



Fringilla graminea. Emberiza graminea. Zonotrichia graminea. Poocetes 

 gramineus. Bay-winged Bunting. Grassfinch. Ground Sparrow. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern United States and more southern British 

 provinces ; breeding from Virginia and northern Missouri north- 

 ward. Winters in Southern States to eastern Texas. 



In Missouri a fairly common transient visitant and a scarce 

 or only locally common summer resident according to some ob- 

 servers in the prairie region north and west. Mr. S. S. Wilson 

 took eggs of this species June 15, 1895, at St. Joseph; Mr. Prier 

 says it is a very common breeder at Appleton City; Mr. E. M. 

 Parker reports it breeding in Montgomery Co. In his Hst of 

 Warrensburg birds, made in 1874, W. E. D. Scott gives this 

 species as breeding, but Mr. Aubrey F. Smithson's Hst of War- 

 rensburg breeders, 1906, does not corroborate that statement, 

 neither did Mr. Chas. W. Tindall find it breeding near Independ- 

 ence. On the cottonfields of the southeast the first transients 

 appear early in March; in central Missouri about March 15, 

 in the most northern counties seldom before April. They are 

 never very common, but may be met with in small troops along 

 the edges of woods or timbered creeks nearly throughout April, 

 most commonly between the 10th and 20th. In fall the bulk of 

 transients passes through Missouri in the second half of October, 

 though loiterers have been noted late in November (November 20, 

 1902, Jasper Co., November 20, 1894, Keokuk). In Shannon 

 Co., where Mr. E. S. Woodruff found the first, March 19, none 

 were seen after April 7. 



*542a. Passerculus sandwichensis savanna (Wils.). Savanna 

 Sparrow. 



Fringilla savanna. Passerculus savanna. Emberiza savanna. Ammo- 

 dramus sandwichensis savanna. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern North America, breeding from Con- 

 necticut, Pennsylvania, Ontario, northwestern Indiana northward 



