GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. 87 



grasshopper-like song, whioh is uttered from the top of a fence-stake, or a tall weed- 

 stem, or mullein-stalk. It is a very weak performance, and, although frequently uttered, 

 is not recognized by many as a bird song. 



The Grasshopper Sparrow is a very sly and secretive bird, keeping most seduously 

 concealed in rank grass, rarely rising higher than the top of the tall weed-stems. If in 

 late May or during June we stroll through weedy fields, especially in sandy, sterile soil, 

 we shall often have an opportunity to startle the little plain colored bird from its 

 hiding places among the dense weeds and grass. It darts a few yards in wayward 

 flight, disappearing as suddenly from view as it came to light. In northern Illinois it 

 is a common bird in the grassy prairies, especially on higher ground and in old neglected 

 fields and pastures. 



I have ofben found the nest accidentally when rambling through weedy localities, 

 pastures, and prairies. It is sunken in the ground, and is usually placed in or on the 

 side of a tuft of grass or in a cluster of plants, and is thus well concealed. It is built 

 of dry grasses, and lined with the same, and with a layer of horse hair. 



The number of eggs is usually four, but sometimes five complete a set. They have 

 no resemblance to those of the Savanna Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Song Sparrow, and 

 other ground builders of this family, having a clear white ground-color, somewhat 

 polished, and are spotted more or less thickly with reddish-brown, especially at the 

 larger end. The spots and marblings vary in size and form, occasionally forming a 

 corona about the larger end. They measure about .75 by .63 of an inch. "Early in 

 June, w^hen the female is incubating, the males seem more ambitious than at other 

 times, and often mount a weed, shrub, or fence-post to make their queer music — one of 

 the sounds that an ornithologist learns to recognize without difficulty, though the 

 casual ear might not separate it from the nameless voices that show how the field 

 teems with life at this season." (Steams.) 



Like all our small terrestrial Sparrows it subsists on larvae, insects, and seeds of 

 grasses and w^eeds. 



The Yellow-winged Bunting is a rather late arrival, making its appearance in 

 Wisconsin usually not before May, and leaving again in September. It is not gregarious, 

 and although often seen among the flocks of other similar Sparrows in the cotton and 

 corn-fields of Texas, during winter, it avoids intercourse with its own species on a large 

 scale. I have rarely met four or five together. Dr. Heermann, Mr. Dresser, the celebrated 

 English ornithologist, the well-known naturalist Dr. Lincecum, and other ornithologists 

 of later date as well as myself have observed this bird during the summer in Texas. As 

 I have seen it also near the Gulf coast, I infer that it breeds in that State. 



The Grasshopper Span-ow is mainly a bird of the AUeghanian and Carolinian 

 Fauna. I have no record of its breeding in northern Wisconsin, and it is even rare in 

 northern Massachusetts. 



The variety, Western Grasshopper Sparrow, Atnmodramus savannarum per- 

 pallidus RiDGW., is found from the Great Plains to the Pacific, south over the table 

 lands of Mexico. It is paler in color, and has usually a longer tail and longer wings. 



NAMES: Grasshopper Sparrow, Grasshopper-bird, Yellow-winged Bunting; "Grass Sparrow," "Ground 

 Sparrow," "Grass-bird." 



