BIRDS OP THE CAMBRIDGE REGION. 



271 



The only instance known to me of the occurrence of the Yellow-winged 

 Sparrow in the city of Cambridge is that of a male which I observed on June 18, 

 1898, near Gray's Woods, at the point of intersection of Fresh Pond Lane and 

 Huron Avenue. This bird was in full song and apparently settled for the season 

 in a neglected corner of Kingsley Park where, among the weeds and scanty grass 

 that covered the half acre or less of open ground which it frequented, its mate 

 was perhaps brooding her eggs or young. 



Although the Grasshopper Sparrow is seldom noticed in the Cambridge Re- 

 gion after the close of summer, a few birds probably remain with us through the 

 autumn; one was taken in Arlington on December 6, 1892, by the late Mr. 

 Howard Gardner Nichols. 



Nuttall's brief account of this species, which he calls the " Savanna Finch, 

 or Yellow-shouldered Sparrow," contains the following passage which relates 

 apparently to the neighborhood of Cambridge but possibly to that of Phila- 

 delphia : " They are occasionally seen in the gardens of this vicinity on their 

 way apparently to some other breeding station. On these occasions they perch 

 in sheltered trees in pairs, and sing in an agreeable voice somewhat like that 

 of the Purple Finch, though less vigorously." 1 It is evident that the birds thus 

 referred to could not have been Yellow-winged Sparrows. Lincoln's Sparrow 

 sings at times very like a Purple Finch, if less loudly and vigorously, but dur- 

 ing its migratory visits to eastern Massachusetts it is usually met with singly 

 and on or very near the ground, although I have known it to perch in low trees. 



157. Ammodramus henslowii (Aud.). 

 Henslow's Sparrow. 



Summer resident, of very rare and probably only casual occurrence. 



On June 21, 1871, I found a pair of Henslow's Sparrows apparently settled 

 for the season, and almost certainly breeding, near the present point of intersec- 

 tion of Huron and Lake View Avenues, Cambridge. There were then, of course, 

 neither streets nor houses in this now densely populated neighborhood. The 

 birds had taken possession of an extensive mowing field grown up to tall herd's- 

 grass and bordered on one side by an apple orchard. The land was sloping and 



IT. Nuttall, Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada. The Land Birds, 

 1832, 494. 



