191 
546 a, Ammodramus savannarum perpallidus Ridgw. [1984.] Western Grass- 
hopper Sparrow. 
Rather common on the Great Plains from Dakota southward. Mr. 
Lloyd states that it isa resident in western Texas, and is tolerably com- 
mon in fall in Concho County. A single specimen was killed at Boerne, 
Tex., by Mr: Brown. (Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, Vol. VII, 1882, p. 127.) 
Mr. Ragsdale writes that those taken at Gainesville, Tex., are interme- 
diate in character, but nearer this subspecies than the typical form. 
547. Ammodramus henslowii (Aud.). [199.] Henslow’s Sparrow. 
This is one of the rarer Sparrows of the Mississippi Valley. Ridgway 
says itis acommon species on weedy prairies in Illinois, where it breeds, 
and in the southern part of which State it sometimes winters. It has 
been found in Kansas and Nebraska, and from thence southward. Mr. 
Scott found it breeding in western Missouri. (Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, 
Vol. IV, 1879, p. 143.) The only observer who has had the good for- 
tune to meet it is Mr. Ragsdale, who recorded it as uncommon at 
Gainesville, Tex., where it was seen February 27, 1876.* 
548. Ammodramus leconteii (Aud.). [200.] Le Conte’s Sparrow. 
This species is common over the western prairies, but is seldom no- 
ticed because of its habit of skulking in the grass, where it manages to 
keep well out of sight. It breeds in the Assiniboine Valley and in Da. 
kota and Minnesota, and possibly in Illinois. In winter it ranges south 
through all the States west of the Mississippi to Texas, and has been 
found in numbers in Illinois, South Carolina, Alabama, and even in 
Florida. In the spring of 1884 Caddo, Ind. Ter., was the only station 
at which it was seen. Here its passage, for it did not winter, was very 
rapid. February 16 over a dozen were seen; two days afterwards the 
pastures were alive with them. <A 640-acre field was as full of them as 
northern fence-rows ever are with Chipping Sparrows. Many left the 
night of February 19, and by March 1 all had departed. The nest and 
eggs of this species have been described by Ernest E. Thompson, from 
Manitoba (The Auk, Vol. V, 1885, p. 24), and by Dr. Agersborg, frem 
Vermillion, Dak. (Ibid., Vol. V, p. 280), but the two accounts are so en- 
tirely at variance that the question must wait for future settlement. 
In the fall of 1884 the first Le Conte’s Sparrow was seen at Gaines- 
ville, Tex., October 27. 
In the spring of 1885 a Le Conte’s Sparrow, which had been impaled 
bya Shrike, was sent me for identification from Fayetteville, Ark., where 
it was found February 28. At Saint Louis, Mo., one was shot April 1; 
it had not previously been known from that place. At Newton, Iowa, 
one was taken April 20+ 
*Since the above was written, Mr. Lynds Jones has found Henslow’s Sparrow to 
be a tolerably common breeder at Grinnell, Iowa.—C. H. M. 
tAt Storm Lake, Iowa, during the latter of September, 1887, Dr. A. K. Fisher 
found Le Conte’s Sparrow common, and secured specimens not yet wholly out of 
first plumage,” showing that they had been hatched in the neighborhood.—C., H. M, 
