A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 1

Habits. The common Yellow-winged Sparrow appears to be a bird of irregular and unequal distribution, found in certain localities in great abundance, and not seen in the intervening districts. According to some writers, it is partial to sandy places near the sea, and this is certainly true of the neighborhood of New York City, and also of a large portion of the New Jersey coast. It is likewise the case in certain portions of Eastern Massachusetts, as, according to Mr. Maynard, this species is very numerous in Nantucket, where it breeds abundantly. I have never met with this Sparrow in Massachusetts, except in a single instance, near Boston, nor in any collections of eggs have I seen any that I supposed could be those of this species; yet in the western part of the State, according to Mr. Allen, it is an abundant summer visitant, arriving there about the first week in May, and leaving early in September, breeding in dry fields and pastures, and raising two broods in a season. According to Mr. Boardman, it is an occasional visitant in the neighborhood of Calais, yet rare; arriving there the first of April, five weeks earlier than it shows itself in Springfield. Yet that this bird has ever been met with between Boston and Calais does not appear. It was not seen in Western Maine by Professor Verrill.

In the vicinity of Hartford, Conn., this bird appears also to be a not uncommon summer resident. In 1860, I received from Mr. T. S. Brandigee several nests found in that neighborhood. They were all constructed on the ground, in a field of thin grass, and their tops were all nearly covered over.

Dr. Heermann states that he found this bird a not uncommon species, in the summer season, near San Antonio; and Mr. Dresser also procured a specimen there in the early summer. Dr. Lincecum mentions it as a common resident in Washington County, in the same State. He describes it as a close-hiding Grass Sparrow, running on the ground in the manner of a mouse, and never seen to alight on trees. Dr. Coues speaks of it as a resident species in South Carolina, especially abundant during the period of migration.

It has been found quite common, during the winter months, in Central America, specimens having been procured there by Señor Constancia, Mr. Skinner, and Dr. Van Patten. It was also found at Oaxaca, Mexico, by Mr. Boucard.

Mr. Nuttall and Mr. Audubon speak of it as occurring in Oregon, but Dr. Cooper did not meet with it on the Pacific coast. Dr. Kennerly obtained a single specimen on one of the forks of the Colorado, in February. Mr. Ridgway met with the western form of this species, in suitable places, in the Sacramento Valley and the Great Basin, and proposes for it the name of perpallidus.

In the vicinity of Newark, N. J., I have found this species apparently one of the most abundant in that neighborhood, having obtained there in the month of June more eggs of this than of any other species.

In Northfield, Ill., near the lake shore, Mr. Robert Kennicott met with the nests of these birds in great abundance. From these facts I infer that it is not necessarily or exclusively a bird of the sea-shore, but that in certain favorable localities it is as abundant in the interior as on the coast, and that at intervals it may be met with from Texas to Maine, and from the Atlantic to the interior, nearly or quite to the Pacific coast.

In Jamaica, Mr. March states, this species is not uncommon in the savannas and grass lands near Spanish Town. It is a resident in that island, and breeds there in considerable numbers, nesting in tufts of grass-roots. It is only common in certain localities.

I have never heard its note to know it. Wilson speaks of it as a short, weak, interrupted chirp. According to Mr. Ridgway, it bears a close resemblance to the note of a grasshopper. Nuttall says they sing in an agreeable voice, something like that of the Purple Finch, though less vigorously; and Audubon characterizes it as an unmusical ditty, composed of a few notes weakly enunciated at intervals.

It is terrestrial in its habits, living, nesting, and feeding on or near the ground. It subsists on larvæ, insects, and the seeds of grasses and small weeds.

This bird builds its nest on the ground, usually in a small tuft of grass or in a cluster of plants. It is made of dry grasses, and is lined with fine bent and horsehair. The young are said to follow their parents for a short time, but soon separate, and learn to take care of themselves. This species is not gregarious, and is never seen in flocks, not even when just about to migrate.

Wilson and Nuttall describe the eggs as grayish-white, sprinkled with brown. Audubon says they are dingy-white, sprinkled with brown spots. This is not accurate. The ground-color is a clear crystalline white, beautifully dashed and marbled with bold markings of an almost golden brown. These spots vary in size, are often quite large, and occasionally make a corona about the larger end. The eggs are of a rounded oval, almost spherical, shape, measuring .75 by .63 of an inch.

Coturniculus passerinus, var. perpallidus, RidgwayWESTERN YELLOW-WINGED BUNTING

Coturniculus passerinus, var. perpallidus, Ridgway, Report of U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par. Coturniculus passerinus, Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 189.

Sp. Char. Adult (No. 58,605 ♂, Antelope I., Great Salt Lake, June 4, 1869; U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th parallel) similar to var. passerinus, but the light tints above prevailing, the ground a pale ash-color, and the chestnut spots in excess of the black ones. Specks on the nape very minute. Buff tinge to cheeks, throat, and jugulum so faint as to be scarcely appreciable. Wing, 2.60; tail, 1.90; bill, .33 from frontal feathers by .24 in depth at base; tarsus, .70. Young (No. 53,942 Ruby Valley, Nev., July 22, 1868) differing from young of var. passerinus in a predominance of the light, instead of the dark, markings on upper surface, streaks across breast so faint as to be just appreciable, instead of distinct, and nearly black.

Hab. Western Province of United States, from eastern base of Rocky Mountains to the Pacific.

This very appreciably different race replaces the restricted var. passerinus, in the Western Province of the United States. In its paler colors and much more slender bill than its eastern representative, it agrees with Passerculus alaudinus, Poocætes confinis, etc., as compared with P. savanna, P. gramineus, etc. It is to this race that the biographical notes in the preceding article refer, as far as based on western specimens.

Genus AMMODROMUS, Swainson

Ammodromus, Swainson, Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827. (Type, Oriolus caudacutus, Gm.)

Gen. Char. Bill very long, slender, and attenuated, considerably curved towards the tip above. The gonys straight. A decided lobe in middle of cutting edge of upper bill. The legs and toes are very long, and reach considerably beyond the tip of the short tail. The tarsus is about equal to the elongated middle toe; the lateral toes equal, their claws falling considerably short of the base of the middle one; the hind claw equal to the lateral one. Wings short, reaching only to the base of the tail; much rounded; the secondaries and tertials equal, and not much shorter than the primaries. The tail is rather shorter than the wings, and graduated laterally; each feather stiffened, lanceolate, and acute.

Ammodromus caudacutus.

609 ♂

Color. Streaked above and across the breast; very faintly on the sides.

The essential characters consist in the slender and elongated bill; the long legs reaching considerably beyond the tail, with the lateral claws falling considerably short of the middle one; and the very short rounded wings, rather longer than the cuneate tail, with its stiffened and lanceolate feathers.

Common Characters. Above olivaceous or ashy, the crown washed with brown laterally, the dorsal feathers darker centrally; beneath white, tinged across the jugulum with ochraceous or ashy; jugulum streaked; a dusky “bridle” on each side of throat; above it a maxillary stripe of ochraceous or white.

1. A. caudacutus. Ad. Above olive, the dorsal feathers darker and edged with whitish-ochraceous; superciliary and maxillary stripes deep ochraceous; jugulum and sides tinged with the same, and sharply streaked with black. Juv. Wholly ochraceous, darker above; crown and back streaked with black, the former divided medially by a pale-brown stripe; breast and sides streaked with black. Hab. Atlantic coast of United States.

2. A. maritimus. Ad. Above ashy, the dorsal feathers obsoletely darker centrally; superciliary stripe yellowish-ashy, bright yellow over the lores; maxillary stripe white; jugulum and sides tinged with ashy, the former obsoletely streaked with dark ashy. Juv. Above olivaceous, the crown and back streaked with black, the former not divided by a lighter median line; breast and sides washed with ochraceous and distinctly streaked with black. Hab. Atlantic coast of United States.

Ammodromus caudacutus, SwainsonSHARP-TAILED BUNTING

Oriolus caudacutus, Gmelin, I, 1788, 394.—Latham, Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 186 (not Fringilla caudacuta, Lath.). Fringilla caudacuta, Wilson, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 70, pl. xxxiv, f. 3.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 281; V, 499, pl. cxlix. Fringilla (Spiza) caudacuta, Bon. Syn. 1828, 110. Passerina caudacuta, Vieillot. Ammodramus caudacutus, Swainson, Birds, II, 1837, 289.—Aud. Synopsis, 1839, 111.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 108, pl. clxxiv.—Bonap. Conspectus, 1850, 482.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 453.—Samuels, 307. Fringilla littoralis, Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 504 (2d ed. 1840, 590). Sharp-tailed Oriole, Pennant, Arctic Zoöl. II, 261, New York.

Sp. Char. Upper parts brownish-olivaceous. Head brownish, streaked with black on the sides, and a broad central stripe of ashy. Back blotched with darker; edges of interscapular feathers and inner secondaries whitish, just exterior to a blackish suffusion. A broad superciliary and maxillary stripe, meeting behind the ashy ear-coverts, and a band across the upper breast, buff-yellow. The sides of the throat with a brown stripe; the upper part of the breast and the sides of the body streaked with black; rest of under parts whitish. Edge of wing yellowish-white. Bill yellowish below; dusky above. The female appears to have more buff on the breast than the male. Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.30.

Hab. Atlantic coast of the United States.

Ammodromus caudacutus.

The young is of a more yellowish tinge above and below; the streaks on the back more conspicuous; the scapular feathers without the whitish edging.

In autumnal and winter specimens the buff tints are much deeper than in spring; the sides of the crown, as well as the dark markings on the back, more intensified, and in greater contrast with the lighter ashy and olive tints.

Habits. The Sharp-tailed Finch is one of the most striking and well-characterized of land-birds, and as peculiar to the sea-shore as the Tringæ. In habits it very closely resembles the whole family of Waders in many striking respects. Like them it feeds upon small crustaceans and minute marine insects, keeping about the water’s edge, walking upon the floating weeds and other substances raised by the tide, preferring this mode of life to a more inland residence, and only resorting to the uplands to feed upon the seeds of grasses and sedges when their food fails them at the water’s edge.

Dr. Coues is of the opinion that this bird does not breed in the neighborhood of Beaufort, N. C., and that it leaves for the North in May, having a more northern habitat than A. maritima. He does not coincide with those who detect a resemblance between the actions of the Ammodrami and of the Sandpipers. He thinks the manner in which they climb the reeds, slide up and down, and hang from them in various attitudes, is more like that of Nuthatches and Titmice. On the ground they seem to him unmistakably sparrow-like.

This Sharp-tailed Finch is abundant along the coasts of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and is also found in Massachusetts, though sparingly, and only in a few congenial localities. In the marshes of Charles River, near Boston, this species is occasionally common in the breeding-season. In the summer of 1869, Mr. H. W. Henshaw found quite a number of their nests. Mr. Maynard has also taken it among the marshes of Ipswich, which is probably about its extreme northern limit. It has not, so far as I am aware, been traced to Maine. In these localities it probably raises two broods in a season, as it appears there in May, and remains until into October. They are eminently terrestrial, run on the ground like mice, are difficult to flush, and can only be shot while on the wing. They lie close to the ground, and conceal themselves in the grass.

They are also very numerous in the marshes in the neighborhood of New York, and especially so in New Jersey, breeding along that coast to Cape May. How much farther south than this they are found I cannot state, but I did not meet with any at Cape Charles, where the maritimus was very abundant.

In the winter this species is found in large flocks along the shores of South Carolina and Georgia. Mr. Audubon, however, did not find any in Florida. In the marshes near Charleston they are found in immense flocks, so much so that Audubon has known of forty being killed at a single shot. They search in the sedgy marshes for their food when the tide is out, and, on the approach of the returning waters, retreat to the higher shores and to the rice embankments.

The flight of this species is quite different from that of any other bird, and by it they may at once be recognized. In flying, they also drop their tails very low.

Mr. Audubon states that during the winter the Sharp-tailed Finch is furnished with an extra quantity of feathers on the rump, for which he finds it difficult to account.

These birds are essentially maritime, are found only in the vicinity of the sea, and always keep immediately about the water, except when the inclemency of the weather drives them to the high grass of the uplands for shelter. They walk and run, or remain feeding on the floating weeds and other substances raised by the tide, with all the ease and fearlessness with which they move on the land. They are gregarious in the winter, and in the Southern marshes are found feeding in companies. During the breeding-season they keep more in pairs, and are found more isolated. At this time they are also shy, and difficult to detect. Their usual call-note is only a single tweet, and in the love-season their series of twitters Mr. Audubon thinks hardly worthy to be called a song. They feed indiscriminately on seeds, insects, small crustaceans, and various forms of refuse matter floated or thrown up by the tides.

On the coast of New Jersey, where these birds are found in the greatest abundance, they have at least two broods in a season. Their nest is on the ground, in a small tussock of grass or sedges, but little removed from the reach of the tide, and is placed in a depression apparently excavated for the purpose. They are loosely made of soft and slender grasses, arranged in a circular form. The nest is large for the bird, spacious and deep, and is softly lined with finer and similar materials.

Their eggs, five or six in number, are of a somewhat rounded oval shape, having an average breadth of .59 of an inch, and vary in length from .78 to .70. Their ground-color is a light green, occasionally a dull white, with hardly a perceptible tinge of greenish, thickly sprinkled equally over the entire egg, with fine rusty-brown dots. These are of various sizes, but all fine. In a few the larger dots are confluent in a ring around the larger end; in others, the finer dots are so small as to be only distinguishable under a glass, concealing the ground-color, and giving to the egg an almost uniform rusty color. These eggs vary but little in shape, and are nearly equally rounded at either end, though never entirely so.

Ammodromus maritimus, SwainsonSEASIDE BUNTING

Fringilla maritima, Wilson, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 68, pl. xxxiv, f. 2.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, pl. xciii. Ammodromus maritimus, Sw. Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 328.—Bonap. List, 1838.—Ib. Consp. 1850, 482.—Aud. Synopsis, 1839, 110.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 103, pl. clxxii.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 454.—Samuels, 308. Fringilla (Ammodromus) maritima, Nutt. Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 592. Fringilla macgillivrayi, Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 285; IV, 1838, 394; V, 1839, 499, pl. ccclv. Ammodromus macgillivrayi, Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 482.—Aud. Syn. 1839.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 106, pl. clxxiii. Fringilla (Ammodromus) macgillivrayi, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 593.

Sp. Char. Above olivaceous ashy-brown; nearly uniform, but with the centres of interscapular feathers darker and edged faintly with paler; very obsoletely, almost inappreciably streaked elsewhere, especially on the head, which has a faintly defined median stripe of purer ashy. Beneath white; the breast and sides and under tail-coverts with rather indistinct streaks of dark ashy-brown, tending to form a large spot in centre of breast; an ashy mandibular stripe continued into the ashy sides of neck, and cutting off and enclosing a white stripe above it. A spot of yellow anterior to eye, continued over it as an almost inappreciable grayish stripe. Edge of wing sulphur-yellow. Bill lead-color; feet dusky. Length about 6 inches; wing, 2.50. In autumn the breast and sides tinged with fulvous; the back with rufous.

Young birds (A. macgillivrayi?) have markings much more distinct, and closely resemble A. caudacuta, though larger. They will be most readily distinguished by the absence of the fulvous superciliary stripe.

Hab. Atlantic sea-coast of United States, northward to Long Island Sound.

The same seasonal differences in coloration are observable in this species as in A. caudacutus.

Habits. The Seaside Finch has very nearly the same distribution, habits, and manners of life, as the Sharp-tailed species, and the description of these in one would answer almost equally well for the other. There are, however, certain shades of difference in several respects to be observed.

This bird is, if anything, more southern in its distribution than the other, and does not extend its visits in summer so far north. While the Sharp-tailed Finch is not an uncommon bird on the shores of the New England States, as far to the north as Ipswich, the Seaside Finch is comparatively rare, much more so now than it was formerly. Mr. Maynard states that he has searched carefully for it from the Merrimack to the extreme southern shores of Massachusetts without finding any specimens, nor could he find any on the island of Nantucket, a very natural and congenial locality. Dr. Coues states that it is abundant on the New Hampshire coast, but recent endeavors have failed to detect it. In 1836 and 1837 a few isolated pairs built in the marshes of Stony Brook, near Boston, above tide-water, nesting not on the ground, but in low bushes. They were identified by Mr. Audubon.

In the summer of 1852 I found this species very abundant on the low sandy islands of Cape Charles, Va. There, in every instance, their nests were in low bushes, about a foot from the ground. They were the only land-birds found on these islands.

Rev. C. M. Jones informs me that at Madison, Conn., on the coast, the Seaside and the Sharp-tailed Finches occur in about equal numbers in the salt marshes. He was not able to observe any specific difference in their mode of nesting, except that the maritimus seemed to be more common in that part of the marsh nearest the shore, while the caudacutus was more abundant farther back towards the highlands, though this was not the invariable rule. He sometimes found the nests suspended in the salt grass, the latter being interwoven with the other materials. In all such cases the entrance was on the side of the nest, in the manner of the Marsh Wren. At other times he found the nest placed under a quantity of lodged grass, but resting on a portion still lower. In such cases it is generally open at the top. He has also found them on the ground, and, when thus placed, always much more bulky than when built as above, a considerable quantity of dead grass being laid down to keep the nest above the wet, though not always with success. On Cobb’s Island, Va., Mr. Jones only found the maritimus, the nests of which were in bushes, from one foot to eighteen inches from the ground.

The call-note of this species is said to be a monotonous chirp, and its song hardly to deserve that name. The notes of which it is composed are few, and have neither variety, emphasis, nor attractiveness.

Dr. Coues states that this Finch begins to sing when mating, and is afterwards, during the incubating, particularly earnest and persevering about it. Each pair usually claims some particular copse, and the male usually has his favorite singing-post, to which it continually resorts. He adds that its simple song is something like that of the Yellow-shouldered Sparrow, beginning with a few slow notes, then a rapid trill, finally slurred, till it sounds like the noise made by some of the grasshoppers.

These birds are at all times shy and difficult to be approached. When their nest is visited, the parents leave it and secrete themselves, and cannot be traced without great difficulty. When thus hidden, they will almost suffer themselves to be trodden upon before they will fly up.

Mr. Audubon thinks they have two broods, their first being hatched out early in June. Their nests, he states, are usually placed next to the ground, but not sunk in it. Their food consists of marine insects, small crabs, and snails, as well as small sand-beetles and seeds. Their flesh has a rank, unsavory flavor, so much so that, having had some made into a pie, he could not eat it. He states also that they are resident in the Southern States, and are found along the Gulf coast as far as Texas.

The nest is strongly but coarsely woven of dry sedges, stems, and grasses, and is lined with similar but finer materials. The eggs are five in number, have a grayish-white ground, and are spotted and blotched with reddish-brown. The blotches are distributed over the entire egg, and are much larger than in the caudacutus. There is, indeed, no similarity between the two eggs. They measure .88 by .68 of an inch.

Genus CHONDESTES, Swainson

Chondestes, Swainson, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 435.—Ib. Fauna Bor.-Am. II, 1831. (Type, Chondestes strigatus, Sw., equal to Fringilla grammaca, Say.)

Chondestes grammaca.

5557 ♂

Gen. Char. Bill swollen; both outlines gently curved; the lower mandible as high as the upper; the commissure angulated at the base, and then slightly sinuated. Lower mandible rather narrower at the base than the length of the gonys; broader than the upper. Tarsi moderate, about equal to the middle toe; lateral toes equal and very short, reaching but little beyond the middle of the penultimate joint of the middle toe, and falling considerably short of the base of middle claw. Wings, long, pointed, reaching nearly to the middle of the tail; the tertials not longer than the secondaries; the first quill shorter than the second and third, which are equal. The tail is moderately long, considerably graduated, the feathers rather narrow, and elliptically rounded at the end.

Streaked on the back. Head with well-defined large stripes. Beneath white, with a pectoral spot. Only one species recognized.

Chondestes grammaca, BonapLARK SPARROW

Fringilla grammaca, Say, in Long’s Exped. R. Mts. I, 1823, 139.—Bon. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 47, pl. v, f. 3.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 17, pl. cccxc. Chondestes grammaca, Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 479.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 456.—Cooper & Suckley, 200.—Maynard, Birds E. Mass. 1870, 112 (Massachusetts).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 193. Emberiza grammaca, Aud. Synopsis, 1839, 101.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 63, pl. clviii.—Max. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 343. Chondestes strigatus, Swainson, Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 435.