360 Birds of Colorado 
Description.—Male in summer—General colour above dusky brown, 
with paler, chiefly greyish-buffy edgings to the feathers; crown very 
dark with a narrow median, whitish stripe ; superciliary stripe to top 
of the eye and edge of the wing bright yellow; a dusky postocular 
stripe ; below whitish, faintly tinged with buff on the throat and breast, 
not striped ; iris brown, upper mandible dusky, lower mandible pale 
brown, legs pale horn. Length 4.5; wing 2-3; tail 1-60; culmen -5; 
tarsus -7. 
The sexes are alike; after the autumn moult the colours are much 
brighter, there is a good deal of chestnut and less black on the upper- 
parts, while below the buffy wash is much more clearly marked and 
extends on to the flanks. A young bird is like the winter male, but 
does not at first have the yellow on the edge of the wing and over the 
eye, and the chest is distinctly streaked with dusky. 
Distribution.—The western United States, breeding from Minnesota 
and Iowe to California, south in winter to Mexico and Costa Rica. 
The Grasshopper-Sparrow does not appear to be a common bird in 
Colorado, or else it has escaped the notice of observers through its 
likeness to the Savannah and Baird’s Sparrows. There are four Colorado 
examples in the Aiken collection, all obtained in El Paso co. on the 
plains on July 15th and 20th, August 8th and September 24th, the 
latter apparently a young bird in freshly moulted plumage. At Barr, 
Hersey and Rockwell state that it is not uncommon and nests. Cooke 
says that it reaches the State in the middle of May, though in his ‘“‘ dates 
of arrival,” on p. 18, he notes it from Loveland on April 21st on the 
authority of W. G. Smith. One taken by Bragg near Haystack Butte 
in the plains of Boulder co., is now in the State collection at Denver 
(Henderson). 
Habits.—Like Baird’s Sparrow this is a thoroughly 
terrestrial form, frequenting old fields and skulking 
in the rank herbage. It derives its generic name from 
its likeness to a diminutive Quail (Coturnix), and its 
vernacular name from its peculiar chirring note, like 
that of a grasshopper. Allen found it nesting abun- 
dantly near Fort Hays in central Kansas, and took 
several sets of fresh eggs, usually five in number, 
between June 3rd and 10th. 
Genus PASSERHERBULUS. 
Small Sparrow-like birds resembling Passerculus, but with the tail 
nearly or quite as long as the wing and much graduated ; the feathers 
narrow and pointed ; ninth primary shorter than the seventh. 
