PASSERCULUS PRINCEPS. 
101 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed on the ground, composed of grass loosely arranged and lined with finer. Dimensions; external diameter, 
3'50, internal, 2'25. External depth, 2'00, internal, 1‘25. 
Eggs, four or five in number, oval in form, bluish-white in color, thickly blotched, and some portions nearly covered, 
with reddish-brown. Some eggs, however, are marked with very distinct spots of umber and I have occasionally seen them 
lined with the same color. Dimensions from 77' x '60 to '87 x '65. 
HABITS. 
The savannahs of Florida are wide spread plains, either fresh or salt. The former are cov¬ 
ered with a luxuriant growth of grass often six feet high, while on the latter the herbage is 
shorter, and consists of several species of plants among which is the peculiar sea purslane, 
(Sesuviutn portulacastrum.) This creeping herb quite covers the ground in many localities 
and the red, succulent leaves yield a peculiar spicy scent when crushed beneath the feet. 
This aromatic odor always reminds me of the marshes of Indian River, for it was there that 
I first saw the plant growing to perfection. These salt plains are the resorts of many birds, 
but none are more abundant there than the little Sparrows which I have under consider¬ 
ation, and which derive their common and specific names from their habit of frequenting 
savannahs. Many other species of the family are arboreal, but none among them are so 
fond of open, grassy sections as the Savannah Sparrows. In Florida they are abundant 
in the marshy country along the sea board or rivers of the interior, and are common "on 
the plantations of Georgia and the Carolinas. In Pennsylvania "they are found in the rich 
interval lands, in Massachusetts and Maine they swarm along the sand hills and marshes 
of the coast, and I have even found them on the grassy hill sides of the Magdalen Islands, 
Gulf of St. Lawrence. They are retiring in habit, often running a long distance before 
flying. The males, however, are fond of perching on a low limb of a tree or fence top to 
give their peculiar lay, which consists of a few lisping notes terminating in a faint warble; 
the whole performance being rather an unsatisfactory apology for a song. 
The nests are built on the ground in open fields, along the edges of the sand hills, or 
on the marshes. There is very little attempt at concealment, but as the females sit closely 
it is exceedingly difficult to flush them, and when forced to leave they will frequently run 
some distance before rising, often feigning lameness in order to attract attention from the 
nests. The eggs are deposited about the first of June and a second litter in July. They 
breed a little later on the Magdalen Islands where I should judge that they onlyrear one 
brood. They leave Florida early in May, arriving in New England about the middle of 
April, and remain until the first of November. 
PASSERCULUS PRINCEPS. 
Pallid Sparrow. 
Passerculusprinceps Maynard, American Naturalists, Vol., VI, 1872, 637. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Plate in. Adult in spring. 
Sp. Ch. Form, rather robust. Size, large. Tongue, somewhat fleshy, horny at tip which is provided with a terminal 
fringe of cilia. Sternum, with the keel a little higher and the coracoids a trifle longer, than those of savanna. 
