84 SAVANNA SPARROW. 



meadows, prairies, and salt marshes of the Eastern and Northern States. It breeds from 

 the Northern States northward to Labrador and the Hudson Bay territory. How far 

 it is found south during the breeding season, I am unable to say, but Prof. Ridgway 

 has found a nest near Mount Carmel, in southern Illinois. In New England it is 

 especially abundant, its favorite haunts being the salt marshes bordering the sea-shore, 

 but it may be found in large numbers in any open ground throughout the interior. 

 In northern Illinois, in Wisconsin, and Minnesota it is in some localities common, breed- 

 ing in large colonies, but in other entirely similar places it is not found at all. 



The Savanna Sparrow is thoroughly terrestrial, confining itself almost entirely to 

 the ground, and rarely perching on anything even so high as a shrub or a fence. On 

 the ground it runs "swiftly with pretty steps, threading its way like a mouse through 

 the grass. Always solicitous of concealment, it takes but short wayward flights when 

 forced to rise on wing, soon dropping again into the favoring shelter of the herbage." 

 It is one of those Finches that best deserves the name of "Ground Sparrow," or "Grass 

 Finch," so indiscriminately applied to several distinct species in the vernacular of our 

 rural people. 



The song of the Savanna Sparrow consists of a number of rather weak chirping 

 notes of no great value, but with other bii'd-notes they combine to make the flower- 

 adorned prairies and meadows more delightful. We rarely see the singing birds, as they 

 utter their lay on the ground or on some low growing herb. Where these Sparrows occur 

 we may hear late in May and early in June peculiar music from dozens of performers 

 on all sides. At other times only a slight chirping call-note is heard. The nest is placed 

 on the ground, or, more correctly — in the ground, as it is sunken to the brim. It is so 

 well hidden among the grass and the weeds that it is only accidentally found, while w^e 

 are roaming around on the prairies and meadows. The incubating bird does not leave 

 the nest before we almost step on it. Then it flutters and tumbles along, feigning severe 

 lameness, in the endeavor to attradl attention from the nest to herself, "and thus decoy 

 the intruder away from her treasures." In this manner most ground birds act, when 

 their nest is approached. If we look closely from where the bird started, we may 

 always find the nest. This is a very slight affair, being constructed of grasses only, the 

 brim being flush with the surface. It is in no way different from other ground nests. 

 The eggs, usually five in number, are greenish or grayish-white, spotted, blotched, and 

 speckled with brown and lavender, especially round the larger end. The markings are 

 often so numerous that they almost conceal the ground-color. 



In winter these birds are found in very large flocks, in company with Leconte's, 

 Henslow's, and Baird's Buntings, Homed Larks, Vesper Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, 

 and other similar birds in the cotton and corn-fields of Texas, Louisiana, and other 

 localities bordering the Gulf of Mexico. In the Carolinas, especially on the sea shore, they 

 are exceedingly abundant during winter. I have seen them frequently in winter on the 

 low prairies of south-eastern Texas, between Houston and Galveston. In fall they 

 usually arrived early in November and remained, at least in small numbers, until the 

 end of April. In the prairies west of Houston, near Hockley, I found them when most 

 of the other birds were breeding, and this led me to suppose that they were summer 

 I'csidents in that part of the State. Later investigation, however, has jiroved that they 



