B12 NOTES ON THE 
A characteristic of many species of females under similar 
occasion, is very marked in this, in assuming to be badly 
wounded when incautiously driven from her nest. She drags 
one leg and its corresponding wing, as if she had been stepped 
upon by the ruthless intruder, and she successfully ‘‘fools the 
greenhorn,” be he an odlogist or an other, by trotting him to a 
safe distance from her nest, when she suddenly forgets there is 
anything the matter, and flits away toa safe distance, from 
which to enjoy the disappointment of the intruder. 
Their food, as with most of the sparrows, consists of small 
beetles and the finer seeds of grass and weeds. 
So entirely terrestial is this species in all of its habits, that 
after a lifetime’s observation of them in nearly every state and 
territory of the United States and Canada, I have yet to see 
the first one of them perched on a tree, and only very rarely on 
a bush or a fence. No. doubt that in extremely rare instances 
others may have witnessed such an event, but I make the state 
ment to emphasize this characteristic of the species. : 
The localities in which I have found them, unlike many other 
species, have always been rather, indeed, quite restricted. To 
instance, when out on a collecting excursion, in which I drive 
over considerable territory which would average in all condi- 
tions favorably to their habits, I have not found them in more 
than three or four localities in a whole afternoon, yet if lreturn 
to those places many times afterward during the summer, I 
may depend upon finding them there. And between these sec- 
tions of occupation, none, or if any, only an individual or two 
willbe seen. Some of them linger far into October, and even 
November in exceptional instances, before their migration 
southward. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Feathers of the upper parts generally with a central streak 
of blackish-brown; the streaks of the back with a slight rufous 
suffusion laterally; the feathers edged with gray, which is 
lightest on the scapulars; crown with a broad median stripe of 
yellowish-gray; a superciliary streak from the bill to the back 
of the head, eyelids, and edge of the elbow, yellow; a yellow- 
ish-white maxillary stripe curving behind the ear coverts, 
margined above and below by brown; the lower margin con- 
sists of a series of thickly crowded spots on the side of the 
throat, which are also found on the side of the neck, across 
the upper part of the breast, and on the sides of the body; a 
few spots on the chin and throat; rest of under parts white; 
outer primary and tail feathers edged with white. 
Length, 5.50; wing, 2.70; tail, 2.10. 
Habitat, eastern North America. 
