300 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



some reed or tall stalk just above the marsh. Its nest is concealed near 

 the high water mark among the dense sedges, and is composed of coarse 

 grasses and reed stalks. The eggs are 3 or 4 in number, white in ground 

 color, spotted with purplish and brown; average size .80 by .64 inches. 



Chondestes grammacus grammacus (Say) 



Lark Sparrow 



Fringilla grammaca vSay. In Long's Exped. 1823. 1:139 (note) 

 Chondestes grammacus grammacus A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. igio. 



p. 260. No. SS2 



chondestes, Gr., meaning "grain-eating"; grdmmacus, evidently an incorrect form 

 from gramma, line, intended to refer to the head stripes 



Description. A very sharply marked sparrow, a trifle larger than the 

 Vesper sparrow. Crown of the head chestnut with a median stripe of hiffy 

 and superciliary stripes of buffy a^d white; auricular s chestnut; malar 

 stripes buffy white like the superciliary; a hlack stripe through the eye; short, 

 sharp, black rictal stripe leading back to the chestnut auriculars, and long 

 black submalar stripes on each side of the white throat; under parts whitish; 

 a black spot in the center of the breast; upper parts grayish brown striped on 

 the back with blackish; wings with two buffy white bars and a spot of the 

 same at the base of the primaries ; central tail feathers similar to the back; 

 all the others black conspicuously tipped with white and the outer pair with 

 the outer web white for nearly its entire length. 



Length 6-6.75 inches; wing 3.5; tail 2.82; bill .45; tarsus .75. 



Distribution. This species inhabits the Mississippi valley east of the 

 Great Plains from eastern Nebraska, northwestern Minnesota, central 

 Wisconsin and Ohio to Louisiana and central Alabama; accidental in the 

 Atlantic States during migration. In New York this species has been 

 taken at .least four times on Long Island, as follows : Sayville, August 20, 

 1879 (Earl, N. O. C. Bui. 6:58); Millers Place, November 27, 1899 (Helme, 

 Kvk, 17:296); Millers Place, November . 1900 (Braislin, "Birds of Long 

 Island," page 83); eastern Long Island, July 28, 1902 (Worthington, Auk, 

 19:403). It has also been reported from Oneida county, June 13, 1903 

 (Johnson, Auk, 21:281); and during the summer of 191 1 Mr W. L. Dobbin 

 found it breeding near his home in Monroe county. The birds were around 



