392 
FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC 
Nest, of grasses and seaweed, lined with fine grasses, on the ground. Eggs , 
3-4, white or grayish white, finely speckled with cinnamon-brown, especially 
at the larger end, ‘78 x ‘57. Date, Amityville, N. Y., May 31; Lynn, Mass., 
June 6. 
This species is confined exclusively to the salt-water marshes of our 
coast, where it may be found in large numbers. It runs about among the 
reeds and grasses with the celerity of a mouse, and is not apt to take 
wing unless closely pressed. Mixed flocks of the several varieties 
of the Sharp-tail, together with the Seaside Sparrow, gather in the fall 
among the sedges, and may be observed hiding in the grass or clinging 
to the tall stalks of the cat-tails. In the breeding season it is usually 
associated with the Seaside Sparrow on the same marsh, but it prefers 
the drier parts, and builds its nest in the tussocks on the bank of a ditch 
or in the drift left by the tide, rather than in the grassier sites chosen 
by its neighbor. 
From some bit of driftwood or a convenient stake, its infrequent 
song may be heard morning and evening. It is short and gasping, and 
only less husky than the somewhat similar performance of the Seaside 
Sparrow. J. Dwight, Jr. 
549.1. Passerherbulus nelsoni nelsoni {Allen). Nelson’s Spar- 
row. Similar to P. caudacutus, but smaller, the upperparts darker, the 
feathers of the back more olive-brown and more broadly margined with 
whitish; the throat, breast, and sides deeper ochraceous-buff, very slightly if 
at all streaked with blackish. “L., 5*50; W., 2‘25; T., 1*90; B., *43” (Dwight). 
Range. — E. N. Am. Breeds in Canadian and upper Transition zones 
from Great Slave Lake and w. cen. Alberta se. to sw. Man. and ne. S. D.; 
winters on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from N. C. to Fla. and Tex.; n. on 
the Atlantic coast during migration at least to N. Y., Mass., and Maine, 
accidental in Calif. 
Washington, rare T. V., May-Sept. Ossining, tolerably common T. V., 
Sept. 28-Oct. 17. Cambridge, formerly uncommon T. V. Glen Ellyn, one 
record, Oct. 2, 1893. SE. Minn., uncommon T. V. 
Nest, on the ground, of fine grasses. Eggs, 5, grayish white ground, 
thickly sprinkled and clouded all over with markings of brown, thickening 
on the extreme butt into a dark brown zone, '65 x 50. Date, (found by E. 
S. Bolfe, at Devil’s Lake, N. D., June 14, 1899; Auk, 1899, 356). 
This interior representative of the Sharp-tailed Sparrow occurs on 
the Atlantic Coast only as a migrant and winter visitant when it is 
associated with the Sharp-tail and Acadian Sharp-tail. 
549.1a. P. n. snbvirgatus {Dwight). Acadian Sharp-tailed Spar- 
row. Similar to P. caudacutus, but paler above and with the throat, breast, 
and sides washed with cream-buff and indistinctly streaked with ashy. “L., 
5*55 ; W., 2‘30; T., 2‘00; B., ‘46” (Dwight). 
Range. — Marshes of the Atlantic coast. Breeds mainly in Canadian 
fauna from se. Que., Prince Edward Is., and Cape Breton Is. to Maine; 
winters on coasts of S. C., Ga., and Fla. 
Ossining, rare T. V., Sept. 29-Oct. 16. Cambridge, formerly T. V., May; 
Sept, and Oct. ; very common in fall. 
Since this race was separated by me in 1887 few new facts have been 
developed regarding it, except that, as I anticipated, it has been found 
in other parts of the Maritime Provinces, and never far from salt water. 
