SEASIDE SPARROW. 
347 
and its flesh is even imbued with the rank or Ashy taste to be 
expected from the nature of its food. At other times it re- 
mains amidst the thickest of the sea-grass, and climbs upon 
the herbage with as much dexterity as it runs on the ground. 
Its feet and legs for this purpose are robust, as in the Swamp 
Sparrow. It appears to rear two broods in the season. In 
May and June the Seaside Finch may be seen almost at all 
hours perched on the top of some rank weed near the salt- 
marsh, singing with much emphasis the few notes which com- 
pose its monotonous song. When approached it seeks refuge 
in the rank grass by descending down the stalks, or flies off to 
a distance, flirting its wings, and then, alighting suddenly, runs 
off with great nimbleness. 
The Seaside Finch is now considered a rare bird in Massa- 
chusetts, though common, if not abundant, in Connecticut. It is 
not quite so exclusively maritime as Nuttall supposed, as it is found 
on the margins of rivers so far inland that the water is scarcely 
brackish. 
Note. — Scott’s Seaside Sparrow {A. jnaritimus penin- 
sula) was first described from specimens taken by Mr. W. E. D. 
Scott at Tarpon Springs, Florida, in 1888. It is intermediate in 
coloration between A. nigrescens and A. inaritimus. 
This race has been found only along the southwestern coast of 
Florida and on Grand isle, off Louisiana. 
The Dusky Seaside Sparrow {Amvwdratnus nigrescens) — 
which differs from maritimus in being black above, streaked with 
olive and gray, beneath white, streaked with black occurs in 
southern Florida. 
