PASSERES FRINGILLID^. 143 



summer long it is an abundant species. The bulk of indi- 

 viduals has gone south by the first of October, but scatter- 

 ing individuals may remain well into November. 



197. (542a.) Passerculus sandwichensis savanna 

 (Wils.). 94. 



Savanna Sparrow. 



Synonyms: Passerculus savanna, Ammodramus sandwichensis 

 savanna, Fringilla savanna. 

 Common Savanna Sparrow. 

 Wheaton, Ohio Agri. Report, 1860, 366. 



Judging from the reports that have come to me, this is 

 not a common species, certainly not "Very common," as 

 Dr. Wheaton found it. The apparent rarity may well be 

 due to unfamiliarity. I have not found it even common in 

 Lorain county; a half-dozen records for the season is unu- 

 sually good success. I have utterly failed to find this bird 

 in summer. Rev. Mr. Henninger reports it as common 

 during the migrations, but a rare breeder in southern Ohio 

 (Scioto and Pike counties). In the nature of the case, it 

 must be of local distribution. It is a great skulker in the 

 grass and may easily escape notice. 



.This, with other sparrows of the genus, prefers insects to 

 seeds and grain, while they are with us. This sparrow in 

 particular is the greatest of all beetle-eaters. Weevils and 

 other destructive species form a large part of its diet during 

 June, July, and August. The seeds eaten are weed seeds 

 that we are anxious to get rid of, and the grain is almost 

 wholly waste, since these birds do not go in flocks, but skulk 

 about rather than expose themselves to view. 



The Savanna Sparrow appears in southern Ohio during 

 the first week in April, and has reached our northern coun- 

 ties a week later (March 21, 1903). It leaves us about the 

 last week in October. 



