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Ammodramus maritimus macgillivraii. Macgillivkay's 

 Seaside Spaeeow. 



An abundant summer resident of the salt marshes lying 

 east of Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, and occurring there 

 rarely in winter. The eggs of this sparrow seem so far to 

 have escaped observation, and the bird itself was unrecognized 

 from Audubon's time until Mr. Chapman described the adult 

 a few years ago. A series of thirty adults which I have 

 collected in the breeding-ground of this sparrow convinces 

 me that this form is well worthy of recognition. 



In habits and song Macgillivray's Sparrow is indistin- 

 guishable from the Seaside Sparrow, but it frequents wet- 

 ter marshes than that bird favors; its nest is frequently 

 constructed of different materials and the eggs are usually 

 distinct. 



On May 20 and 21, 1901, I collected six sets of this 

 species on Pea Island, North Carolina, three of them con- 

 sisting of four eggs each, two of three, and one of two — 

 the last probably incomplete. As all these eggs, except one 

 set of three, were fresh, and as most of the birds I had taken 

 earlier in the month had not laid, this probably represents 

 the beginnmg of the breeding season. These nests were all 

 situated several inches from the ground in small tussocks of 

 coarse grass growing in the standing water of a marsh. They 

 were rather loosely built of coarse grasses Ihied with fine ; 

 and whereas in the case of two of them a good deal of dried^ 

 white eel-grass had been used in construction, that contain- 

 ing two eggs was composed of little else. I do not remem- 

 ber ever finding this substance in the nest of A. maritimus. 

 The eggs resemble those of maritimus but they average smal- 

 ler and are less heavily marked, the contrast between the 

 gromid color and markings being more pronounced. In one 

 set of three the markings are in the form of fine spots and 

 scratches, abundant only toward the base, and a set of four 



