THE SAVANNA SPARROW. 



(Ammodramus sandwichensis savanna.) 



"The Savanna Sparrow is one of 

 those inconspicuous little birds which 

 hide in the grass or run stealthily along 

 the fences or furrows, having nothing 

 special in their appearance or habits to 

 attract particular attention." These are 

 the words of Dr. Robert Ridgway, re- 

 garding this retiring but useful little 

 bird. In its habits it very closely re- 

 sembles its relative, the vesper spar- 

 row. Both frequent meadows and nest 

 on the ground. Not infrequently, when 

 walking through a meadow, one will be 

 startled by the sudden whirr of wings 

 as one of these sparrows flies away 

 from a spot almost beneath his feet. Its 

 habits are decidedly terrestrial, and it is 

 not infrequently called the Ground Spar- 

 row, 



The Savanna Sparrow is an abundant 

 species throughout the eastern portion 

 of North America, breeding in the 

 northern United States and Canada and 

 wintering in the southern states, Mexi- 

 co and the adjacent islands. Near the 

 Atlantic coast, where it is a common 

 resident, its favorite feeding grounds are 

 the salt marshes. Here its food con- 

 sists of small mollusks as well as of 

 insects and grass seeds. Dr. Sylvester 

 D. Judd, who has made a careful study 

 of the sparrow and their foods, with 

 special reference to their effect on agri- 

 culture, considers the Savanna Sparrow 

 an exceedingly valuable bird. "During 

 the winter, when it is most granivorous. 

 more than half of its food consists of 

 weed seeds, and from May to August, 

 when it is most insectivorous, beneficial 

 insects form only three per cent, of the 

 food, while insects of the injurious class 

 amount to forty-five per cent." 



The nest of the Savanna Sparrow is 



constructed on the ground in hollows 

 under the protecting shade of a tussock 

 of grass or a clump of weeds. The ma- 

 terials used in building this simjple home 

 are usually grasses and fine roots or 

 moss neatly twined together and lined 

 with very fine grass and hair. Not in- 

 frequently two broods are raised in a 

 season. 



Its song is not easily described. Dur- 

 ing the mating season some listeners 

 consider the song of the male, which he 

 utters in the morning and at the close 

 of day, quite pretty, though of little vol- 

 ume. Mr. Oliver Davie says: "Its song 

 is weak, squeaky and unmusical, which 

 at times is uttered from the ground or 

 from, the tops of bushes." Mr. J. 

 Dwight says: "The song is insignificant 

 — a weak, musical little trill following a 

 igrasshoppcr-like introduction, is of such 

 small volume that it can l^e heard but a 

 few rods. It usually resembles tsip-tsip- 

 tsip-se-e-e-s'r-r-r. More singing is 

 heard toward sunset, when of a quiet 

 evening the trills are audible at greater 

 distances." Dr. Coues considered the 

 nuptial song quite sweet and simple and 

 says that at other times the only note is 

 a weak chirp. "It has the sharp chip- 

 ping note of its family," writes Mr. 

 I.angillc, "buf its song is strongly 

 marked and may be represented by the 

 notes zip-zip-zip-zwree-e-e-e-e-e. zwree, 

 the first three being short, subdued and 

 uttered in quick succession, while the 

 fourth is louder and drawn out into a 

 sort of trill or twitter on the upward 

 slide, and the latter is much shorter and 

 with the falling inflection. The song is 

 not loud and has but little variation, but 

 is one of those gentle, drowsy sounds 

 in nature which are decidedly soothing." 



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