286 
along the British Columbia coast. This is a large bird, somewhat rufous in colour and with 
bright yellow lores and eyebrow stripes. The Eastern Savannah Sparrow Passerculus 
sandwichensis savanna is the bird of the east and may extend west to eastern Manitoba. 
It is slightly darker, with the eye Btripe brighter yellow than the next. The Western 
Savannah Sparrow Passercidus sandwichensis alaudinns is supposed to range from Mani- 
toba west to the Pacific coast. It is a paler, greyer form, with eye stripe dull or even white. 
But all the birds of this region do not agree with this description, and further study of the 
characteristics of the subspecies is desirable. Probably some other formB will have to be 
recognized, amongst them a small, dull-coloured one in southwestern British Columbia, 
Po8serculua sandwichensis brooksi. 
A bird of damp meadows and waste land, where the grass grows in 
rank and coarse bunches and water lies close to the surface; or of sandy 
barrens where the grass and weeds grow in scattered clumps. It runs in 
the grass like a mouse and rises with a low quick flight, often before a 
good view of it can be obtained. It is an interesting little bird, but is so 
inconspicuous as easily to pass unnoticed by the casual observer. 
Economic Status. Besides great quantities of weed seed, the Savannah 
Sparrow consumes more insects than do most sparrows, and more beetles 
than any other. These beetles include a great number of weevils and other 
harmful forms. Although inhabiting waste places it frequents cultivated 
land often enough to make it an efficient helper to the agriculturist. 
545. Baird’s Sparrow. Ammodramus bairdi. L, 5*25. Like the Savannah Sparrow 
( See Plate LV B), but all markings sharper, shorter, and sparser. The face ana hind- 
neck suffused with light ochre, warming to burnt orange in the broken, median crown- 
stripe. No lemon yellow on lores or bend of wing. 
Distinctions. The ochre and dull orange background of face and crown separates 
it from all other species. 
Field Marks. A Savannah sparrow-like bird with warm ochre suffusion over face and 
head. Markings clearer and sharper, white more general, are the best recognition marks 
for the eye. The best identification, however, is by the voice. Instead of the insipid 
insect-like little trill of the Savannah Sparrow, it utters quite a little warble, “Zip-zip-zip- 
zre-e-eeeeeee ,” the opening “zips” being very plain and characteristic. 
Nesting. On the ground in the grass. 
Distribution. The Great Plains of North America. In Canada, the southern prairies. 
Though widely distributed over the prairies, this species is rather 
local. It inhabits damp ground around sloughs, but is specially partial 
to dry alkaline flats a little back from shrinking pools. Amidst the great 
number of Savannah Sparrows and other small species in such places, it 
is very inconspicuous, as is indicated by the fact that, though the country 
it inhabits had been often visited by ornithologists, it was thirty years 
after the first specimen had been brought to the attention of science before 
the species was rediscovered as common in Colorado and Dakota. 
546. Grasshopper Sparrow, yellow-winged sparrow. Ammodramus savannarum. 
L, 5-38. A small grass-haunting Sparrow. Back marked with fine, short streaks of 
brown, ashy, and light buff in indefinite pattern; dull white below, with a light buffy wash 
across the breast fading away on the sides of the throat. A yellow spot in front of the 
eye; upper wing-coverts ana the bend of the wing yellow or yellowish. In fresh, unworn 
plumage, a condition of specimen that is but rarely secured, the back shows many light 
semi-circles that give a scaly appearance. There is a decided vinaceous general cast owing 
to considerable ml or bay that later wears or fades away. Tail of sharply-pointed feathers 
like Figure 267. 
Distinctions. The yellowish upper wing-coverts are distinctive of the species. The 
unstriped and unspotted breast will separate it from most of the other small grass Sparrows. 
Field Marks. This species can be distinguished from most of the other small 
Sparrows by its unstreakea, faintly buff-colourea breast. Its song is like the last part 
of the song of the Savannah Sparrow, without the opening phrase and final syllable, and 
dies gradually away like “Bz-bz-bz-z-z-z-i.” 
