Dwight, The Shcirfi-tailed 'Sparrows, 
r Auk 
[_Oct. 
276 
jL. c. subvirgatus is peculiar to the fresh and salt water marshes 
of the Maritime Provinces of Canada, especially those bordering 
on the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Strangely 
enough it has never been taken in Nova Scotia, although it 
undoubtedly occurs there, for I have observed it within two or 
three miles of the boundary line when rambling over the mead- 
ows of the Petitcodiac River in New Brunswick, not far from the 
type locality. Since my discovery of the birds about ten years 
ago I have found them breeding at Tignish, Prince Edward 
Island, where they were recorded as c audacutus long before sub- 
virgatus was separated (Brewster, Bull. N. O. C., II, 1877, 28), at 
Bathurst, N. B., and at Rivifere du Loup, Quebec, on the south 
shore of the St. Lawrence. They have also been found a few 
miles west of the last named place at Kamouraska (Dionne, 
Oiseaux de Quebec, 1889, 82). West of this I have not found 
them, neither at L’lslet nor on the marshes between the city of 
Quebec and Ste. Anne de Beaupre. Consequently there appears 
to be a wide gap between the headquarters of this form and 
those of nelsoni , — over one thousand miles. In migration the 
birds pass as far south as South Carolina (Brewster, Auk, VII, 
1890,212) mingling with the true caudacutus and wtef when 
Massachusetts is reached. I have already spoken of three birds 
of this race that apparently were stopping to breed in southern 
New England. One was recorded as nelsoni (Henshaw, Auk. Ill, 
1886, 486) and it might well be compared with some of the pale 
nelsoni from the west, but I can absolutely match it with occasional 
specimens from the type locality of subvirgatus , which themselves 
approach very close to exceptionally pale nelsoni. This is to be 
expected in any large series of birds, especially those which are 
split into races, but if it should be proved that subvirgatus regu- 
larly breeds on the same ground as caudacutus, the question of 
considering nelsoni as a separate species with subvirgatus as its 
eastern race may be seriously _ discussed. 
Habits. 
A few words about the habits of these birds may not be amiss 
although there is little to add to what has already been written 
