188 



River. It was reported as breeding at Newport, Ark 8 , but its normal 

 breeding range does not extend much south of southern Illinois. 



In the fall of 1881 the last Grass Finch left Des Moines, Iowa, August 

 12, and the first appeared at Gainesville, Tex., October 8. 



In the spring of 1S85 a pronounced migration of this species took 

 place about the 1st of April. It was first noticed at Saint Louis, Mo., 

 March 30; at Hennepin, 111., March 31; Delavan, Wis., April 1; and 

 Manhattan, Kans., April 4. The Texas records were later. They are: 

 Gainesville, April 6, and San Angelo, April 14. The advance near the 

 Mississippi River was quite uniform. Newton, Iowa, was reached April 

 9; Leeds Centre, Wis., April 10; Lanesboro, Minn., April 16; New 

 Richmond, Wis., April 14; Minneapolis, Minn., April 22; and Shell 

 River, Manitoba, April 29. In the fall of 1885 the last one was seen at 

 Elk River, Minn., October 3; Lanesboro, Minn., October 29; Saint 

 Louis, Mo., October 21; and at Mount Carmel, Mo., October 28. At 

 Gainesville, Tex., they were abundant November 17. 



540 a. Poocsetes gramineus confinis Baird. f 197 a.] Western Vesper Sparrow. 



This pale form of the Vesper Sparrow occurs on the high dry plains 

 along our western border, and thence westward. Its eastern limit in 

 the south is in the neighborhood of Gainesville, Tex., where specimens 

 both of this subspecies and of typical gramineus have been taken by 

 Mr. Ragsdale. Most of the specimens from Gainesville are intermediate 

 in character, but from the one hundredth meridian westward, in Texas, 

 typical confinis is the prevailing form. It breeds in western Texas 

 (Lloyd). It is an abundant summer resident at Devil's Lake, Dak., and 

 is the common form in central Dakota, as well as in the Traverse Lake 

 region in western Minnesota, and throughout western Manitoba. 



541. Ammodramus princeps (Mayn.). [192.] Ipswich Sparrow. 



Breeds on Sable Island, off Nova Scotia, and occurs in winter along 

 the Atlantic coast as far south as Virginia. A single straggler has 

 been reported from Dallas, Tex., where, according to its label, it was 

 killed December 10, 1881 (Sennett, The Auk, Vol. Ill, 1886, p. 135), but 

 there is reason to suspect that the specimen really came from the coast 

 of New England, the error having arisen from a transposition of labels. 



542 a. Ammodramus sandwichensis savanna (Wi Is.). [193a.] Savanna Sparrow. 



This Sparrow breeds throughout the Mississippi Valley east of the 

 Plains. It is said to winter from southern Illinois and southern Kan- 

 sas southward, but none of the observers found it north of latitude 35°. 

 It was found most abundantly about Caddo, Ind. Ter., and Gainesville, 

 Tex., at which places both the typical species and the paler form, A. 

 alaudinus, occur (one form remains abundant all winter, the other comes 

 early in the spring). February 11, these Sparrows were very common 

 at Caddo, Ind. Ter., though not more than five were found in a place. 

 The morning of March 22 they were truly in the "height of the season." 

 It had not been supposed that they ever appeared in such numbers. 



