BIRDS OF" THE CAMBRIDGE REGION. 267 



ing. I followed the bird for some minutes, and several times heard its rattle. 

 At last it flew off with the Larks and I did not again go after the birds. So far 

 as I could determine, all the Larks were O. alpestris." 



The only locality in New England which appears to attract Lapland Long- 

 spurs regularly and in any numbers is that represented by a few square miles of 

 open country bordering the seacoast of Massachusetts near the town of Ipswich. 

 Here the birds are always common and sometimes positively abundant in late 

 autumn, while a few often linger well into and perhaps through the winter. They 

 frequent treeless, barren places, chiefly the sand dunes and rounded grassy hills 

 lying near the mouths of the Ipswich and Essex Rivers. 



153. Pocecetes gramineus (Gmel.). 

 Vesper Sparrow. Grass Finch. Bay-winged Bunting. 



Common summer resident. 



SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. 



March 27, 1904, one seen, singing, Belmont, R. Hoffmann. 



April 5 — October 25. 

 December 25, i88g, one male^ taken, Somerville, W. W. Brown. 



NESTING DATES. 



May 10 — 25. 



I remember when Vesper Sparrows bred sparingly in the fields bordering 

 Vassall and Fresh Pond Lanes, but during the past twenty years or more they 

 have been seen in these localities only at their seasons of migration. I fear 

 they have also nearly or quite deserted the hills immediately to the westward of 

 Fresh Pond where they used to be rather common in summer. They may still 

 be found from April to October a little further inland, wherever the local condi- 

 tions suit their somewhat fastidious tastes. As a rule they avoid highly culti- 

 vated land and prefer barren, sandy fields or rocky hill pastures, where the grass 

 is sparse and short. I have met with them oftenest of late years along the high 

 ridge that extends from Arlington to Waverley and in the region lying to the 

 north and west of Rock Meadow. 



'No. 29,611, collection of William Brewster. 



