g CIRCULAR 520. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



are protected by law. but as they are classed as game, an open season 

 is provided for hunting them. 



SPARROWS 



Birds of another group that is just as characteristic of the salt 

 marshes as the rails, and just as elusive, but much smaller, are the 

 sharp-tailed sparrow (Ammospiza caud acuta) and seaside sparrow 

 (A. maritima). Like many other sparrows they tend to be streaky 



both above and below, and they have touches of yellow on the sides. 

 They are about as difficult to observe as mice and appear not unlike 

 those small mammals during the brief glimpses that are about all that 

 can be obtained of them. When forced to take whig, they flutter only 

 a short distance and drop again into their haven — the marsh. Their 

 songs are unimpressive. Their nests are built in crannies among 

 drift, often of dried eelgrass. Both of these sparrows feed on insects, 

 spiders, snails, and sand fleas, which make up about four-fifths of 

 their food : the seeds of grasses and other plants constitute the other 

 fifth. They are hi the marshes at all seasons, but there is some shift- 

 ing to the southward, at least by the northern colonies. 



Rather close relatives of the true-salt-marsh sparrows are the Savan- 

 nah and grasshopper sparrows, which have extensive inland breeding 

 ranges but sometimes nest in parts of the salt marshes that are not 

 too wet. They are not easily distinguished by the lay observer, but 

 the song of the grasshopper sparrow is recognizable as being like 

 that of some of the insects for which the bird is named. 



DUCKS 



Black ducks (Anas rubripes) (pi. 2. A) are heavy -bodied birds of 

 prevailing dark color, with the lining of the wings white, a character 

 well shown in flight. The female, though smaller than the male, 

 does the talking for the family, having a loud, harsh quack, of which 

 the male's softer note seems a faint echo. Black ducks are usually 

 seen in pairs, and in flight the female leads the way. the male follow- 

 ing her every turn and twist. 



The blue-winged teal (Querquedula discors) (pi. 2, B) is but little 

 more than a third the bulk of the black duck. The male has a con- 

 spicuous white crescent in front of the eye, and both sexes have a 

 large blue patch on the wing, which shows well hi flight but often 

 appears white unless the light is favorable. The female utters a low 

 quack, and the male a whistling peep. 



Both species make their nests of a variety of dry plant fragments 

 and line them with their own down, part of which is dragged over the 

 eggs when the sitting bird leaves of its own accord. The number of 

 eggs, which are white or buffy, varies from 5 to 15. 



Both of these ducks breed in the salt marshes from Virginia north. 

 Black ducks may be seen along the entire coast line in winter, and 

 blue-winged teals from Maryland southward. 



The food of the black duck is about three-fourths vegetable and 

 one-fourth animal. Pondweeds. including both the eelgrass and 

 wigeongrass of salt and brackish water, are the most important 

 vegetable foods, followed by the seeds of grasses, sedges, and smart- 

 weeds. About half the animal food consists of small, snails and 

 mussels, the common blue mussel being frequently taken. Sand 

 flea-, shrimps, crabs, insects, small fishes, and fish eggs also are eaten. 



