84 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA 



them perhaps only once or twice during the summer, and 

 always in July. It has been my misfortune never to 

 secure a specimen of these sparrows, so as to remove 

 all doubt as to their identity. In the summer of 1887, in 

 July, while returning home from a barbecue and shoot- 

 ing match, given by Mr. R. Jeffries, not far from that 

 gentleman's home, two large sparrows, with the tails 

 tipped with white, rose from the grass in front of my 

 horse, and perched on the fence by the road. I had a 

 gun, but no cartridges — at least none that. I thought suit- 

 able. I returned to Mr. Jeffries' for shells ; he had none. 

 I then took two heavily loaded shells, which had already 

 missed fire, and inserted them in my gun, a Lefever semi- 

 hammerless; the gun had weak mainsprings, and I had 

 turned out the screws on the under side of the frame to 

 strengthen the mainsprings. This caused the plungers 

 to project so much from the standing breech that I had to 

 cock the gun to close it. In letting down the hammers, 

 or rather in uncocking the gun, I pressed the triggers 

 before placing my thumb on the lever ; the gun was dis- 

 charged, and eight drams of powder and two and a half 

 ounces of shot drove the butt of the gun with such force 

 against my thigh that I was paralyzed with pain and 

 was hors de combat for that day, and for some time after. 

 I was thus disappointed in obtaining the coveted speci- 

 men of this to me unknown and rare bird. 



"In July of 1886; while on my way to Faunsdale, I saw 

 two miles south of Greensboro, about a half dozen of 

 these sparrows, in an osage orange hedge. I had my gun, 

 and fired at one of the birds, but failed to bag it, as it 

 fell into the dense hedge, it being impossible to reach the 

 spot where it fell, or search for it, on account of the 

 thorns. The other birds disappeared and could not be 

 found. 



"In 1885, in July, I saw a bunch of a half dozen of 

 these same sparrows, on the Demopolis road, six miles 

 southwest of Greensboro. 



"On July 28, this year, while I was riding, a mile and 

 a half south of Greensboro, a large sparrow, with the 

 white-edged tail, rose from the grass, and lighted on a 



