Sparrows 
Another grovp of birds that are just as characteristic of the salt 
Marsnes as the rails, and just as elusive, but. much smaller, are the sharp- 
tailed and seaside soarrows. Like many other sparrows they tend to be 
streoky both above and dDelow, and they have touches of yellowish on the 
Sides. They are about as ea to observe as mice and apvear not unlike 
those small mammals during the brief glimpses that are about all that can 
be ovtained of them. When ee to take wing they flutter only a short 
distance, and dron again into their haven--the marsh. Their songs are brief 
and unimpressive. Their nests are built in crannies among drift, often of 
dried eelgrass. The sharp-tailed sparrow and the seaside sparrow feed on 
insects, spiders, snails, and sand fleas, which make um about four-fifths 
of their food: The seeds of grasses nnd other plants constitute the other 
fifth. These: sparrows nre in the marshes at all seasons, but there is some 
shifting to the southward, at least of thse northern colonies. 
As further species that breed in the salt marshes, the nec duck, 
blue-winged teal, bittern, willet, marsh hawk, red-winged blackbird, and 
the marsh wren may be mentioned. ‘The b ae that nest on aa 1es ond sandy 
slands sre not considered here, agian! sony of them that feed in, or other- 
e 
Wise Gesort to, galt marshes, will be re ee to, Latex. 
Black ducks 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, 
5 
the male following her every turn and twist. 
The blue-winged teal is but little more than a third the bulk of the 
black duck. The male has a conspicuous white crescent in front of the eye, 
and both sexes have a large blue patch on the ee which shows well in 
flight when the light is favorable. The female utters a low quack, and the 
male a whistling peep. Both spccics make their nests of a variety of dry 
plant fragments, line them with their own down, part of which is dragged 
over the eggzs wnen 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 coastline in winter, and the blue- 
winged teals from Maryland southward. 
The food of the black duck is about three-fourths veg getadle and one- 
fourth animal. Pondweeds, including both the eelegress and the wigeongrass 
of salt and brackish water, are the most important vegetable foods, follow- 
ed by the seeds of grasses, sedges, and smartweeds. About half the animal 
food consists of small snails and mussels, the common blue mussel being fre- 
quently taken. Sandfleas, shrimp, crabs, insects, and, small, fishes, and 
fish eges, also are eaten. 
