AMMODROMUS MAR1T1MTJS. 
121 
AMMODROMUS MARITIMUS. 
Gray Shore Finch. 
Ammodromus marilimus Sw., Zool. Jour., Ill, 1827, 328. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Ch. Form, rather robust. Size, medium. Tongue, long, thin, and horny, provided with a terminal tuft of hair¬ 
like fibers. Sternum, rather stout, with the keel a little higher than that of the preceding species and with the coracoids 
somewhat shorter. 
Color. Adult. Above, greenish-gray, broadly streaked with dusky. Wings and tail, dark-brown, with the outer 
webs edged with reddish-brown. Beneath, ashy-white, purest on the throat but very much darker on the sides and flanks. 
Sides of head and streakings below, dusky. There is a decided maxillary line of dusky below one of white, and a slightly 
defined median line of ashy extends from the bill to the occiput. Line from base of upper mandible to point over the eye, 
and edge of wing, yellow, and there is a greenish suffusion back of the eye. Bill, black, bluish at base of lower mandible. 
Feet, brown. 
Young. Similar, but browner above, with the median line better defined. The greenish gloss back of the eye is not 
very perceptible, and there are traces of yellowish-rufous across the breast. 
Young of the year. Are very brown above, where the dark streakings are nearly obscured. They are also very much 
whiter below, where there are but few streakings. The median ashy line is considerably broader and much more clearly 
defined. Sexes, similar in all stages. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
There is a general uniformity of coloration in specimens of the same age. The streakings below are never well defined, 
but occasionally encroach upon the throat which Is usually immaculate. Readily distinguished from mclanolcucus by the 
uniform grayish tint throughout which is so conspicuous, even in the young, that this species need not be confounded with 
any other. A constant resident along the coast from the Carolinas to Middle Florida and on the Northern portion of the 
Gulf of Mexico. Found as far north as Connecticut in summer but does not occur in the interior. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of twenty specimens. Length, 5‘50; stretch, 8‘25; wing, 2’50; tail, 2‘ 10; bill, *60; tarsus, '80. 
Longest specimen, 5‘75; greatest extent of wing, 8'40; longest wing, 2'60; tail, 2'25; bill, '65; tarsus, ‘95. Shortest speci¬ 
men, 5*25; smallest extent of wing, 8'15; shortest wing, 2 - 40; tail, 2 - 00; bill, ‘55; tarsus, '75. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed on the ground, or near it. They are either gourd-shaped, with a contracted entrance on top, partly cov¬ 
ered, having the entrance on the side, or open. They are composed of coarse grass lined with finer and occasionally with 
rootlets. Dimensions; external diameter, 4'00, internal, 2‘50. External depth, 4'75, internal, P75. 
Eggs-, four, five, or even six in number, rather elliptical in form, dull-white in color, spotted and dotted quite finely with 
reddish-brown and sepia. Dimensions from ’80 x '58 to ’82 x ’62. 
HABITS. 
The coast of South Carolina and Georgia is peculiar being made up of various islands. 
These are separated by deep sounds which form the mouths of the numerous rivers that 
flow through this section of the country. The islands are not much elevated but are above 
high water mark, while the land back of them is very low being, in fact, overflowed by the 
tide. These salt marshes are quite wide extending for some hundreds of miles along the 
shore, and are intersected by numerous creeks some of which are very deep. As those 
that empty into one sound connect with those that have outlets in sounds on either hand, 
there is a continuous chain of canals which admit the passage of vessels of considerable 
size. In my last trip south on the yacht Nina I availed myself of this circumstance, and 
after leaving Bull Bay in South Carolina, kept inside as far as Jacksonville, Florida. As 
we were frequently obliged to remain in one spot for some time, I had a fine opportunity 
of observing the birds which inhabited the vast marshes through we were sailing, and the 
Gray Shore Finches were among those which claimed my constant attention. 
16 
BIRDS OF FLORIDA. 
