LECONTE'S SPARROW. 89 



only found accidentally. In the first week of June, 1870, I discovered two nests in the 

 low, grassy prairie near Addison, Illinois, and a few years later I found several in 

 similar situations near Oak Park, 111. All these nests were alike in structure, being 

 built of grasses and lined with finer grasses. No other material entered into the com- 

 position. All were built on, not sunken in the ground, like the nests of the Grass- 

 hopper or Savanna Sparrow, and they were always placed on the side or in the 

 center of a weed or a perrenial prairie flower, which overshadowed and concealed the 

 structure in an excellent way. They were always found on the low prairie, where 

 the grass and prairie flowers were growing most luxuriantly. The four, rarely five 

 eggs have a greenish- white ground-color and are blotched and speckled all o\rer w^ith a 

 mixture of madder-brown and sepia, the color becoming more confluent on the larger 

 end; there are also a few dashes and dots of very dark sepia, almost black, scattered 

 among the spots. They measure about .75X.58. 



In 1879 Prof. R. Ridgway found these birds common in Fairfax Co., Va., about 

 five miles from Washington. Walking along the road at dusk, a few stars having 

 already made their appearance, he was surprised to hear the peculiar note which he 

 had last heard on Fox Prairie, 111., eight years previously. Soon numbers were heard 

 on every hand, the locality being a rather narrow valley between low hills, the lower 

 ground being chiefly damp meadow land. A nest was discovered in this locality the 

 following summer, by Mr. P. L. Jouy. 



In winter Henslow's Sparrow is a common bird among the weeds in the cotton, 

 corn, and sugar-cane fields of southern Louisiana and south-eastern Texas as far west 

 as Lee County. 



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



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Embenza henslowi Aud. (1831). Coturniculus benslowi Bonap. (1838). Fringilla 

 Jiens/owi Nutt. (1840). AMMODRAMUS HENSLOWI Gray (1849). 



DESCRIPTION: "Upper parts, yellowish-brown, the hood, neck, and upper parts of back, tinged greenish- 

 yellow. Interscapular feathers, dark brown, suffused externally with bright brownish-red; each 

 feather with grayish borders. Tertiaries, rump, and tail-feathers, abruptly dark chestnut-brown, 

 darkest centrally, paler externally, and narrowly margined with gray. Crown, with a broad, black 

 spotted strijw on each side ; these spots continue down to the back. Two narrow black mandibular 

 stripes and one post-ocular on each side of the head, and an obscure black crescent or spot behind the 

 auriculars. Under-parts, light brownish-yellow, paler on the throat and abdomen. The jugulum, 

 upper part of the breast, and the sides of the body, conspicuously streaked with black. Edge of 

 wing, yellow. A strong tinge of pale chestnut on the wings and tail. The median tail-feathers and 

 upper coverts, chestnut or rufous-brown, with sharply defined shaft-streaks of black." (B. B. & R.) 

 Length, 5.00 inches ; wing, 2.15 ; tail, 1.97 inches. 



LECONTE'S SPARROW. 



Ammodramus lecontei Gray. 



kURING the winters of 1880 and 1881 I found this interesting and pretty little 

 Sparrow quite common in the low cotton and corn-fields in Lee Co., Texas. 

 On the evening of October 25, 1881, several, attracted by the light, came through the 

 open windows into my room, and I kept them almost a year in the cage, when I liberated 



12 



