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- pl- 500 

 Ammodramus bairdi A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 256. No. S4S 

 ammodramus, Gr., oi[i.[Loq, sand, and Bpcc\).siv, 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 buff fading to whitish on the throat; sides of crown heavily streaked 

 with blackish, leaving a broad median stripe of buffy; 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; taib'i.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 Dwight pro- 

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

 Helme, Auk, 17:296). 



