SAVANNA SPARROW. 83 



two or three days before Dr. Coues learned to distinguish them at a certain distance. 

 They do not go in flocks, yet there is a sort of colonization among them, for we may 

 ride a mile or two over the prairie, without seeing any, and then come upon numerous 

 pairs breeding together. Dr. Coues deems it probable that a second brood is usually reared 

 each season. After performing incubation, the plumage is renewed, it having become 

 greatly worn and faded. When the young are all on the w^ing, they associate together 

 with their parents, in loose straggling troops, mixing freely with the Chestnut-collared 

 Buntings, and the Missouri Sky-larks. Their numbers sensibly diminish in September, 

 and they apparently move south during the month, as he saw none after the first of 

 October. In September, in this latitude, there is a good deal of cold weather, and not 

 unfrequently a heavy snow-fall, sending the more delicate birds away early. The birds 

 feed upon various seeds, as well as upon insects, even sizable grasshoppers, which in 

 this region seem to be eaten by almost every bird and animal. , 



Although our learned naturalist made many a search whilst the birds were evi- 

 dently breeding, he never succeeded in stumbling upon a nest. Fortunately, however, 

 I am enabled to complete the history of the species with the description of the nest and 

 eggs, taken July 1, 1873, on Big Muddy Creek, North Dakota, by Dr. J. A. Allen, then 

 Naturalist of the Yellowstone Expedition. The nest 'was built, as v^ras expected, on the 

 ground, and is very similar to that of the Chestnut-collared Bunting — a slight structure 

 of grasses and weed bark, circularly disposed, about four inches across outside. It con- 

 tained five fresh eggs, most nearly resembling those of the Bay-winged Bunting, but 

 smaller and decidedly more rounded. They measure 0.80 by 0.65. The ground is dull 

 w^hite, speckled all over, but very irregularly, with light reddish-brown (pale sienna), 

 and having a few larger blotches of the same and a darker shade, owing tq heavier 

 laying on of the pigment. In a number of instances the coloration would probably not 

 be distinguishable with certainty from those of the Vesper Sparrow. 



NAMES: Baird's Sparrow, Baird's Bunting. 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Emberiza bairdii Aud. (1843). Cotmniculus bairdi Bonap. (1850). AMMODRA- 

 MVS BAIRDII GiEBEL (1872). 



DESCRIPTION: "Somewhat similar in general appearance to Ammodramas sandwichensis savanna. Back, 

 ^grayish, streaked with dusky. Crown, nearly covered by black streaks, but divided by a broad 

 median band of brownish-yellow. Eyelids and a faint superciliary stripe, yellowish-white. Beneath, 

 white, with a maxillary blackish stripe and some narrow streaks on the upper part of the breast, 

 and sides of throat and body. Outer edges and tips of tail-feathers, white; the two outer feathers 

 obsoletely white. Bend of wing, white." (B. B. & R.) Length, 5.10 to 5.85 inches; wing, 2.65 to 3.05; 

 tail, 2.20 inches. 



SAVANNA SPARROW. 



Ammodramus sandwichensis savanna Ridgway. 



Plate XXIII. Fig. 7. 



^HE Savanna Sparrow is one of those inconspicuous little birds which hide in the 

 grass or run stealthily along the fences or furrows, having nothing special in 

 their appearance or habits to attract particular attention." These words from the pen 

 of Prof. R. Ridgway well characterize this plainly colored bird of the grassy low 



