550 THE SHARP-TAILED SPARROW. 



crown, ashy; spot over the eye and shoulder of the wing, 

 yellow. On the mud, among the tall growths of the salt and 

 brackish marshes, they seek their food of tiny moUusks and 

 aquatic insects; and the somewhat " gourd-shaped " nest, 

 with a small opening on the top or side, is either on the 

 ground or fastened to the coarse grasses near the ground. 

 It is composed of coarse grass and lined with finer, some- 

 times with fine rootlets, and contains 4-6 dull white eggs, 

 finely spotted and specked with several shades of brown. 

 Wintering in great numbers in the salt marshes of the 

 Southern States, it breeds from the Gulf to Connecticut, 

 coming north in April and going south before the ground 

 freezes. 



THE SHARP-TAILED SPARROW. 



In similar situations and with similar habits to those 

 given above, we find another species of this same genus, 

 the Sharp-tailed Sparrow (Ainmodromus caudacutus). " Rather 

 smaller than the last, bill still slenderer, and tail feathers 

 still narrower and more acute," the olive-gray upper parts 

 are more sharply streaked with blackish and whitish; instead 

 of the yellow spot above the eye, the eye- brows and cheeks 

 are buffy or orange, and the lower parts are white, with 

 breast and sides more sharply streaked with dusky. The 

 nest is on the ground, pretty much concealed with dry 

 grasses, of which it is also composed, and they breed some- ■ 

 what in community. The four or five pale-blue eggs .77 X 

 .58, finely specked with reddish, are laid rather late in the 

 season. This little Sparrow is exceedingly active, inhabits 

 marshes farther from the shore than does the former, and 

 extends its summer residence farther north, being common 

 about the coasts of Massachusetts and even to New Hamp- 

 shire. It has a very poor voice, its song being regarded as 

 the weakest of all the Sparrows. 



