S84 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. IX. 



Genus PASSERCULUS Bonap. 



249. Passerculus sandwichensis savanna (Wils.). 

 Savanna Sparrow. 



Ammodramus sandwichensis savanna (Wils.), A. O. U. Check List, 

 1895, p. 224. 



Distr.: Eastern North America, from Dakota and Nebraska to 

 the Atlantic coast and from Labrador and Ungava south to the Gulf 

 of Mexico, Florida, Cuba, and Yucatan; breeds from Illinois, Wiscon- 

 sin, and Pennsylvania northward to limit of its range (Cape Eskimo, 

 Ungava, Labrador, etc.). 



Adult: A superciliary line and bend of, the wing, pale yellow, 

 on the latter so pale at times as to be hardly noticeable; all tail 



Savanna Sparrow. 



feathers, dark grayish brown and rather pointed; upper plumage, 

 streaked, mixed black, ashy and pale rufous brown; under parts, 

 white, streaked on breast and sides with brownish black; belly, gener- 

 ally without streaks; wings, dark slaty brown, the coverts and inner 

 secondaries, brownish black, edged with pale rufous brown. 



Length, 5.60; wing, 2.65; tail, 2.15; bill, .38. 



The Savanna Sparrow is a common summer resident in northern 

 Illinois and Wisconsin, from April until October. Frequents fields 

 and prairies. A few remain in southern Illinois during the winter. 



The note is a faint trill preceded by peculiar rasping sounds some- 

 what resemblirig those of the Grasshopper Sparrow. 



