PASSERES—FRINGILLIDA. 143 
summer long it is an abundant species. The bulk of indi- 
viduals has gone south by the first of October, but scatter- 
ing individuals may remain well into November. 
197. (542a.) PassERCULUS SANDWICHENSIS SAVANNA 
(Wils.). 94. 
Savanna Sparrow. 
Synonyms: Passerculus savanna, Ammodramus sandwichensis 
savanna, Fringilla savanna. 
Common Savanna Sparrow. 
Wheaton, Ohio Agri. Report, 1860, 366. 
Judging from the reports that have come to me, this is 
not a common species, certainly not ‘‘Very common,” as 
Dr. Wheaton found it. The apparent rarity may well be 
due to unfamiliarity. I have not found it even common in 
Lorain county; a half-dozen records for the season is unu- 
sually good success. I have utterly failed to find this bird 
in summer. Rev. Mr. Henninger reports it as common 
during the migrations, but a rare breeder in southern Ohio 
(Scioto and Pike counties). In the nature of the case, it 
must be of local distribution. It is a great skulker in the 
grass and may easily escape notice. 
This, with other sparrows of the genus, prefers insects to 
seeds and grain, while they are with us. This sparrow in 
particular is the greatest of all beetle-eaters. Weevils and 
other destructive species form a large part of its diet during 
June, July, and August. The seeds eaten are weed seeds 
that we are anxious to get rid of, and the grain is almost 
wholly waste, since these birds do not go in flocks, but skulk 
about rather than expose themselves to view. 
The Savanna Sparrow appears in southern Ohio during 
the first week in April, and has reached our northern coun- 
ties a week later (March 21, 1903). It leaves us about the 
last week in October. 
