PASSERCULUS SAVANNA, SAVANNA SPARROW. 127 



that it was two or three days before I learned to distinguish them at 

 gunshot range. They do not go in flocks, yet there is a sort of colo- 

 nization among them, for we may ride a mile or two over the prairie 

 without seeing any, and then come upon numerous pairs breeding to- 

 gether. I think it probable that a second brood is usually reared each 

 season, as I have shot equally young birds six weeks apart. After the 

 duties of incubation, the plumage is renewed, it having become greatly 

 woru and faded. When the young are all on wing, they associate to- 

 gether with their parents, in loose straggling troops, mixing freely with 

 the Chestnut-collared Buntings and the 8ky-Iarks. Their numbers sen- 

 sibly diminish in September, and they apparently move south during 

 the mouth, as I saw none after the 1st of October. In September, in 

 this latitude, there is a good deal of cold weather, and not unfrequently 

 a heavy snow-fall, sending the more delicate birds away early. The 

 birds feed upon various seeds, as usual, as well as upon insects, even 

 sizable grasshoppers, which in this region seem to be eateu by almost 

 every bird and animal. 



Although I made many a search whilst the birds were evidently 

 breeding, I never succeeded in stumbling upon a nest. Fortunately, 

 however, I am enabled to complete the history of the species with a 

 description of the nest and eggs, taken July 1, 1873, on Big Muddy 

 Creek, Dakota, by Mr. J. A. Allen, Naturalist of the Yellowstone Expe- 

 dition. These are the first specimens which have been brought to the 

 notice of naturalists. The nest was built, as was to be expected, on the 

 ground, and is very similar to that of Plectrophanes ornatus — a slight 

 structure of grasses and weed-bark, circularly disposed, about tour 

 inches across outside. It contained five fresh eggs, most nearly resem- 

 bling those of the Bay-winged Bunting, but smaller, and decidedly more 

 rounded. They measure 0.80 by 0.65. The ground is dull white, speckled 

 all over, but very irregularly, with light reddish-brown (pale sienna), 

 and Laving a few larger blotches of the same and a darker shade, owing 

 to heavier laying on of the pigment. In a number of instances the 

 coloratiou would probably not be distinguishable with certainty from 

 those of I'ooecetes. The general pattern of the coloration is much as in 

 Pleotroplwnes ornatus, but the general effect is quite different, and, in the 

 single set before me, peculiar. 



Mr. -Henshaw's Arizona specimens ( Wheeler'ft Exped. of 1873) show a 

 condition of plumage leading him to believe that the species breeds in 

 the locality where he j)rocured them, as is undoubtedly the case. He 

 found the birds very numerous, and secured a large series. 



PASSERCULUS SAVANNA, (Wils.) Bp. 



Savanna Sparrow. 



a. savanna. 



Fringilla savanna, Wils., Am. Orn. iii, 1811, 55, pi. 22, f. 2; iv, 1811, 72, pi. 34, f. 4.— 

 Bp., Svn. 1828, 109.— Nutt., Man. i, 1832, 489.— Auc, Orn. Biog. ii, 1S34, C3 : v, 

 1839, 516 ; pi. 109. 



Linaria savanna, Rich., List. 1837. 



Emberiza savanna, Add., Syn. 1839, 103.— iuD., B.Am. iii, 1841, 68, pi. 160.— GiR., B. L. 

 I. 1844, 102. 



Passerculus savanna, Bp., List, 1838, 33; Consp. Av. i, 1850, 480. — Cab., Mns. Hein. 1851, 

 131.— Bd., B. N. a. 1858, 442.— Hayd., Rep. 1862, 165.— Dall & B.iNN., Tr. 

 Chic. Acad, i, 1869, 283.- Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. ii, 1871, 272, (critical discuss- 

 ion).— Allen, M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 177 (edge of plains to above timber-line).- 

 COUES, Key, 1872, 135, fig. 82.— B. B. & R., N. A. B, i, 1874, 534, pi. 24, f. 8; 

 and of late Tvriters generally. 



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