40 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



ami oggs. Pr. Alexander (lerliardt also found these Sparrows common at 

 Varnell's Station, in tlio nortliein part of (•leorjjtia. Professor .losepli Ix'conte, 

 lias taken it near Savannah, and Mr. W. L. Jones has also ol)tained several 

 specimen • m Liberty County, in the same State. 



After nicctin;^ with tliis sjiecies on tlie Kdisto, Dr. Bachman ascertained, 

 upon searching; for tliem in tlie vicinity of Cluirlestown, tiiat they breed in 

 small numbers on the jiine barrens, alwut si.x miles nortli of that city. He 

 was of the opinion that it is by no means so rare in tliat State as has been 

 su]>])osed, but that it is more often heard than seen. Wiien he first heard 

 it, tlie notes so closely resembled those of the Towhee IJunting that for a 

 while he mistook tliem for those of that bird. Their greater softness and 

 some slight variations at last induced him to suspect that tlie bird was 

 something difl'ereiit, and h'll him to go in })ursuit. After that it was cpiite a 

 common thing for him to hear as many as five or six in tiie cour.se of a morn- 

 ing's ride, but he found it almost impossible to get even a sight of the bird. 

 This is owing, not so much to its being so wild, as to the habit it has of 

 darting from the tall pine-t''ees, on which it usually sits to warble out its 

 melodious notes, and concealing itself in the tall broom-grass that is almost 

 invariably found in the places it fro([uents. As soon as it alights it runs off, 

 in the manner of a mouse, and hides itself in the grass, and it is extremely 

 difficult to get a siglit of it afterwards. 



It was supposed liy Dr. IJachnmn — correctly, as it has been ascertained — 

 to breed on the ground, where it is always to be found when it is not singing. 

 He never met with its nest. In June, 185.'^, he observed two pairs of these 

 birds, each having four young. They were pretty well fledged, and were fol- 

 lowing their parents along the low scrul)-oaks of the pine lands. 



Dr. Bachman regarded this bird as decidedly the finest songster of the 

 Sparrow family with which he was acquainted. Its notes are described as 

 very loud for the size of the bird, and capable of being heard at a consider- 

 able distance in the pine woods where it occurs, and where at that season 

 it is the only singer. 



He also states that, by the middle of November, they have all disap- 

 peared, ])robably migrating farther south. It is ([uite probable that they 

 do not go beyond tlie limits of the United States, and that some remain in 

 South Carolina during the whole of winter, iis on the Gth of February, the 

 coldest part of the year, Dr. Bachman found one of them in the long grass 

 near Charleston. 



Mr. Audubon says that on his return from Florida, in June, 18fi2, travel- 

 ling through both the Carolinas, he observed many of these Finches on the 

 sides of the roads cut through the pine woods of South Carolina. They 

 filled the air with their melodies. He traced them as far as the boundary 

 line of North Carolina, but saw none within the limits of that State. They 

 were particnlarly abundant about the Great Santee liiver. 



This Finch, hitherto assumed to be an exclusively southeastern species, has 



