290 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The nest of the Savannah sparrow is placed on the ground beneath 



a clump of sedge or among thick standing grass; composed of dry grasses 



and weed stalks, lined with finer blades of grass and a few hairs. The 



eggs are 4 or 5 in number, bluish white in ground color, thickly spotted 



and washed with reddish brown and purplish shell markings; average size 



.70 by .50 inches. 



Ammodramus bairdi (Audubon) 



Baird Sparrow 



Emberiza bairdii Audubon. Birds Amer. 1844. 7:359. pi. 500 

 Ammodramus bairdi A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 256. No. 545 

 ammodramus, Gr., 'i'^\i.o:;, sand, and Spajxsiv, to run; bairdi, to Spencer F. Baird 



Description. Tail doubly emarginate; feathers sharply pointed; out- 

 stretched feet reaching beyond the tail; tarsus longer than middle toe; 

 the hind toe large, its claw as long as its digit and much curved. Head 

 ocherous huff fading to whitish on the throat; sides of crown heavily streaked 

 with blackish, leaving a broad median stripe of huffy; heavy black rictal 

 and submalar streaks; outer edges and tips of tail feathers white; under parts 

 whitish; breast and sides tinged with buff and streaked with black. 



Length 5.2-5.8 inches; wing 2.65-3; tail 1.85-2. 12; exposed culmen .44; 

 depth of bill .28; tarsus .82. 



Distribution. The Baird sparrow is an inhabitant of the Great Plains, 

 breeding from southern Saskatchewan and southwestern Keewatin to 

 central Montana, North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota; winters 

 from central Texas to Sonora. A single specimen of this bird has been 

 obtained in New York, where it is purely an accidental visitant. It was 

 taken on Montauk point November 13, 1899, and Doctor D wight pro- 

 nounces it "in the juvenal plumage, passing into the first winter " (see 

 Helme, Auk, 17:296). 



