58 OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



along the Southern coast during the nesting sea- 

 son so that we may fairly write the Seaside 

 Sparrow as a permanent resident. Without defi- 

 nite coloring or markings, they live so well hid- 

 den that one seldom realizes how plentiful they 

 are. It is only w r hen disturbed that they take 

 flight and are plainly visible. For the most part 

 they run like mice among the grasses, faintly 

 chirping, sharing their salt marsh or creek with 

 Savannah and Swamp Sparrows, busily feeding 

 on "sand fleas" under the drift cast up by the 

 tide, and on the seeds of weeds, and marsh in- 

 sects, and now and then mounting a tall reed or 

 a bush to deliver the four or five notes that make 

 up their only musical effort. 



The nest is woven of seaweed and marsh 

 grass, attached to the grass stalks a little above 

 ground, and sometimes arched and roofed over 

 with dry seaweed. 



Rather more noticeably marked but identical 

 in habits is the Sharp-tailed Sparrow, who fre- 

 quents the same salt meadows and streams 

 emptying into the ocean. His narrow tail quills 

 are sharply pointed, hence the name. 



The nest is very similar to that of the last, 

 but for it a drier site is commonly chosen, in a 

 tussock of grass, or in the drift and seaweed cast 

 up by the tide along the shore. The greenish 

 white eggs, specked with brown, look precisely 



