them again. During the first few weeks of their cage life they were exceedingly wild, but 

 at last became quite reconciled and tame. They arrived in large numbers by the middle 

 of November, after a very cold and rainy "norther." I also observed the bird several 

 times in northern Illinois, especially on a low, moist prairie near Calumet Lake, on the 

 same spot where Pullman is now situated. Mr. Charles K. Worthen found the bird 

 near Warsaw, 111., on the low, swampy prairies in the Mississippi bottom lands and 

 also on dry bluffs. Several observers have met with the bird in South Carolina, 

 Alabama, and even in Florida. It is probably common in winter in Louisiana, south- 

 eastern Texas, and many other localities, but on account of its mouse-like habits in the 

 dense grass it is rarely observed. 



Dr. Elliott Coues found Leconte's Sparrow on the border of North Dakota, while 

 he w^as surgeon and naturalist of the Northern Boundary Survey in 1873. This was 

 Aug. 9, near Turtle Mountain, and a year later he met with the bird on the head-w^aters 

 of Mouse River about the margins of reedy pools, in situations exactly corresponding 

 to those the Ammodrami inhabit along the coast. They had chosen their haunts in the 

 deep green sea of waving grass that rolled over an extensive moist depression of the 

 prairie. "In their mode of flight, the birds resembled Wrens; a simile which suggested 

 itself to me, at the time, was that of a bee returning home laden with pollen ; they flew 

 straight and steady enough, but rather feebly, as if heavily freighted for their short 

 -wings. The only note I heard, was a chirring, like the noise of a grasshopper. Although 

 I found no nest, the circumstances of observation leave no doubt that the birds bred 

 there. They were in company with a number of Short-billed Marsh Wrens ; their neigh- 

 bors of the drier prairie around were Chestnut-collared Buntings, Baird's Buntings, and 

 Sprague's Larks, all very numerous." 



Leconte's Sparrow breeds from North Dakota northward, and seems to be 

 especially abundant in Manitoba, where it was found breeding by Mr. Ernest E. 

 Thompson. This naturalist gives the following account: 



"As little seems to be known of this bird I may describe some of its habits. It 

 fre<5tuents the damp meadows which are a mixture of red willows and sedgy grass. It 

 is commonly found in the willows at all seasons, uttering its peculiar ventriloqual 

 tweete, tweete, whence I knew it as the 'Willow-tweete,' long before I ever heard of 

 Leconte or of any name for this bird. But in spring the male may be seen perched on 

 some low twig in the meadow, pouring out his little soul in a tiny, husky double note, 

 like reese, reese. This is so thin and weak as to be inaudible at thirty yards, yet in 

 uttering it he seems to labor hard, his beak being wide open and pointed straight to 

 the zenith. On the 26th of June, 1882, I found the nest and eggs which I believe were 

 previously unknown. The nest was by a willow bush in the damp meadow; it was 

 apparently on the ground, but really raised six inches, being on the tangle of grass etc. 

 The eggs, three in number, were of a delicate pink, with a few spots of brownish and 

 of black towards the larger end. One measured .75X.50." 



NAMES: Leconte's Sparrow, Leconte's Grasshopper Sparrow, "Willow-tweete." 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Bmberiza lecontei \ad. {I8i3). Coturn/cu/us /econte/ Bonap. (1850). AMMODRA- 

 MVS LECONTEI Gray (1849). 



