FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 321 



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 decid- 

 edly terrestrial, and it is not infrequently called tlie ground 

 sparrow. 



The Savanna sparrow is an abundant species through- 

 out the eastern portion of North America, breeding in the 

 northern United States and Canada and wintering in the 

 Southern States, Mexico, 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 consists of small mollusks, as well as of insects and 

 grass seeds. 



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 materials used in 

 building this simple home are usually grasses and fine roots 

 or moss neatly twined together and lined with very fine 

 grass and hair. Not infrequently two broods are raised in 

 a season. 



Mr. J. Dwight says: "The song is insignificant — a 

 weak, musical little trill following a grasshopper-like intro- 

 duction, is of such small volume that it can be heard but a 

 few rods. It usually resembles tsip-tsip-tsip-se-e-e-s'r-r-r." 



THE GRASSHOPPER SPARROW* 



This little bird of the meadow and hayfield is quite 

 easily identified by the marked yellow color at the slioulders 

 of the wings, the yellowish color of the lesser wing coverts, 



