BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 318 
AMMODRAMUS BAIRDIT (AupusBown). (545.) 
BAIRD’S SPARROW 
Of this sparrow’s appearance in Minnesota I said in a hasty 
list of birds of the State published by the survey in 1881, I 
think, ‘‘common along the Red river where it breeds.” This 
probably was based upon a mistaken identity of the species by 
those reporting to me from that section. While it has been 
found there by several different collectors it is in no ways 
‘‘common.” I think all the specimens sent to me except one, 
have evidently been young birds, but the exceptional one was 
an adult male, the special characters of which were typical. 
It is said to breed abundantly in Dakota. The nests are 
built on the ground, being constructed of the bark from weed- 
stalks and grass that are rather losely disposed. They usually 
contain five eggs, the ground color of which is dull white, 
speckled all over with pale reddish-brown, with some darker 
splotches of the same. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Somewhat similar in general appearance to Passerinus 
savanna; back grayish, streaked with dusky; crown nearly 
covered by black streaks, but divided by abroad median band 
of brownish-yellow; eyelids, and a faint supercilary stripe, 
yellowish-white; beneath white, with a maxilliary blackish 
stripe and some narrow streaks on the upper part of the 
breast and the sides of the throat and body; outer edges and 
tips of tail feathers white, the two outer feathers obsoletely 
white; bend of wing white. 
Length, 4.75; wing, 2.80; tail, 2.20. 
Habitat, interior of North America from Saskatchewan 
plains southward to Texas. 
AMMODRAMUS SAVANNARUM PASSERINUS (Witson) 
(546. ) 
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. 
This unobtrusive little sparrow, notwithstanding my vigi- 
lance, escaped my recognition for many years, simply because 
I had not heard his song under circumstances to associate it 
with him. But in 1875 Mr. T. S. Roberts identified it not far 
from the city, since which time it has become extremely com- 
mor in restricted localities. It seems to choose, dry, barren, 
weedy pastures, and builds a nest on the ground consisting of 
dried grass lined with hairs. Its usual number of eggs is 
