... ..^

Q
<

<

S

a
<

Q
<

10
d

a,
1)

5

o
a:

<

a
m

X

\}

n^i'tiiotw ot t!x Wuitaii tS^mirbolovilcal Ci >

No. U.

i iiu 1 A' S W I C H S P A R R t^ W

{AMMObHAMi/S t Hi. \ ^,h PS M A VN ARD)

*■■

f^g^

ITS SUMME.V ».A^.vf.EL

By JONATHAN DW^GMT, JR.. M. D.

WITH A COLOItBD nJiTV,

*^w

41

fIDcinotrs of tbc H'luttall ©rnitbolooicnl Club.

No. II,

THE IPSWICH SPARROW

{AMMODRAMUS PRINCEPS MAYNARD)

AND

ITS SUMMER HOME.

By JONATHAN DWIGUT, JR., M. D.

WITH A COLOKKD I'LATE

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

PUBLISH EI) HY THE CLUB.

AUGUST, 1895.

THE Il'SWICn SPARROW {AMMODRAMUS PRIXCEPS) AND

ITS SUMMER HOME.

BY JONATHAN inVIGIIT, JR., M. D.

DiscovKRED among the sand-hills of Ipswich, Massachusetts, by Mr.
C. J. Ma)'narcl, and the single s|iecimt'n obtained by him December 4,
1868, wrongly identified as liaird's Sparrow of the far West by no less
eminent an authority than Professor S. F. IJaird, the Ipswich Sparrow, for
a long time after it was recognized as a new species, enjoyed a reputation
for rarity which later observations have not sustained. Gradually the few
energetic collectors who have cared to face the wintry winds that sweep
the desolate stretches of low sand-liills fringing so much of our Atlantic
coast, have proved the bird to be a regular migrant or winter visitor, found
more or less abundantly from Maine to Georgia. For nearly sixteen years
after its discovery there was no clue to its breeding haunts uiuil, in 1884, a
single summer specimen was obtained from Sable Island, Nova Scotia.
Until ten years later no successful effort was made to solve the mystery
shrouding the summer home of a shy and silent species liiat disappeared
from our shores with the earliest breath of spring, not to return again befoiC
the frosts of autumn had browned the waving clumps of coarse grass where
it makes its winter home. It was in the hope of reading rome of the
unturned pages of tlie life-history of this interesting Sparrow that I visited
Sable Island during the summer of 1894. A long personal ac(iuaintance
with the bird, added to my recent observations, enables me to present a
comprehensive account of a species which, a New England discovery
itsell", annually imitates tlie Pilgrim Fatliers in landing on New England's
shores ; and I am confident my brotiier ornitiiologists, of that part of the
country at least, will feel a particular interest in the new facts I am able
to present regarding a species so peculiarly their own.

Perhaps one of the most interesting results of my trip has been to
establish the fact that the Ipswich Sparrow is resident on Sable Island the
whole year round. Moreover, it is the only laiul bird that makes its nest
there, being known as the ' Gray Bird' to the few inhabitants. As no other
breeding grounds have ever been found (and careful search has been
made by several observers), Sable Island may truly be called the home of

4 MEMOIUS OK TIIK NUITAIJ. ORNITIIOLOGICAL CLUB.

the Ipswich Sparrow. I-«yi"K i>s it does far out in the oclmh, nearly one
hundred miles from the Nova Scotia coast, a landing; upon it impracticable
except in line weather, and wiajipcd in impenetral)h' fo^ fn- weeks at a
timi', .stnail wonder is it liial tliis lonely sand-bank sliould have guarded its
secrets for so many years. Now al last it has yielded tiiein up, and the
home life of tin; liiswieh .Sparrow, ils unknown song, its undiscovered nesi
and eggs, its uiulescribed lledgling plumage, are no longer matters of con-
jecture. It is my pleasant task in these pages to lay them before my
readers, witii sonu; other new facts that came to my notice while I'xiled
on the narrow strip of sand known as Sable Island. I reached there on
the 28th of May, 1894, dejiarting tlience on tlie 14th of June. Nc one is
allowed to land without a permit from the Dominion Government, but,
thanks to kinil and interestinl friends, this was obtained for me without
the delays and red tape that are apt to discourage such ellbrts. From the
Government ollicials with whom I came in contact I received every atten-
tion, aiul to the cordial hospitality ol Mr. Robert J. Doulilier, espi'cially,
ihe supei inlenilent of the lili'-sa\ing service on tlie islaiul, and iiis I'aniii}'
I owe tiie great success of my expeilition.

The only coiumunication the island has with the mainland is by the
Goveriunent steamer which at long and irregular iiUervals carri.'s supplies
thither for tjie se\enlei'n men (several of them with families) wiio now look
alter the two ligiilhouses and four lile-sa\ing stations. The trip, if made
from Halifax, usually occupies a wiioK- day, but tiie boat may spend days
or even weeks supplying the otiier lighthouses ol the Nova Scotia (or
occasionall}' the Newl'onndlaiul ) coast before it proceeds to Sable Island.
The frecpient fogs and the impossibility of making a lauding ludess the wind
is in the right ipiarter, are other sources of delav and danger in visiting the
place, and to accomplish it an unlimited amount of time and patience nuist
be at oiu;'s disposal. The voyages to and from the island actually occupied
me six days, two of which were spent at anchor in the fog. As I went of}'
in the first boat that had visited the island in five months I confess to
some misgivings wh"n 'hi' steamer left me, as to how long I might be obliged
to play Robinson Cruso>'. Like that gentleman I swept up the beach on the
crest of a breaker, but i hail the advantage of him in being comfortably
seated in a surf boat. The cordiality- of my reception ((uickly dispt-lled
all doubts as to my surviving for an indelinite period, and when I left the
island it was with regret, lor everybody seemed to t;.ke an interest in my
researches, and no sooner was a nest foimd or a birtl caught than the
intelligence came to me over the telephone wires that connect the dilVerent
stations, and some of the domesticated wild ponies were ready in the barns
to transport nu; wherever I wished to go.

THE IPSWICIi SI'AKUOW. 5

When evciytliiiig is taken into consideration, I am convinced that the
Fates war': unusually propitious, and enabled me to accomplish within a
few weeks what might easily have taken as many months. No steamer
visited the island lor two months after I left it, and this impossibility of
escape trom a place that has absolutely no other means of communication
with the outer world (not even a cable) is a serious bar to making a
journey that lands the rash naturalist on a veritable terra iiifoiiiiitti.

In order that we may better understand the conditions under which the
birds are living there today, it will be interesting for us to glance at the
history of this isolated spot, already the thenu; of many a pen, and impor-
tant for us to dwell at some length upon the natural history, about which
little has been written.

IlisTOitv oi- Saiim; Isi,am>.

Whether the Dane, Miorn Ileriulfsen, really spied the island, as he is
said to have done, in liie }ear 986 a. d. or not, is a matter not susceptible
of proof,' but thai it was known to liie navigators of the sLxteenth
century is shown by its appearance on t.-arly charts.'' It is apparently
indicated as ' samta cruz ' on a chart ol 1505 by Pedro Reinel, as 'si
cruz' on one of 1544 by Sebastian Cabot, and as ' Isola d'ella Rena '
(Sand}- Island) on one of about 1550 by the Italian, Gastaldi ; while it
appears on various maps of later date under the names of ' isle de sable,'
' I. Sable,' etc., all ringing changes on the French word sable, meaning
' sand,' the adjacent mainland being in those times under French rule, and
known as Acailie. The accuracy of some of the statements made by early
writers regarding the island, is questionable; and whether the Frencinnan,
Baron de Lery, visited it ami left behind him cattle and swine in the year
1518, is very doubtful ; but that the Portuguese stocked it with these animals
about tiie midille of the sixteentii century seems to be an established fact.

In 15)^3 occurred tlie lirst of a long series of disasters on its dangerous
bars. The Admiral, an armed vessel in the service of Her Majest}', C^ieen
Elizabetii, was wrecked here, and nearly one lunulred lives were lost. The
expedition, under command of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, half-brother to Sir
Walter Raleigh, consisted of live ships, and was proceeding from New-
loundland, which island had just been taken possession of in the name
of the Qiieen.

'J. M. Oxluy, 'Historic Aspects of Sal)le fslaiul.' Mag. Amer. Ifist., XV, Feb. 1SS6, 163.

•Facaimilus of many of tluni may liu foiiinl in ' (artier to I'lontenat,' by Justin WInsor, iSy.i,
pp. 6, 53, etc.

6 MKMOIRS OK TIIK Nl'TTALL ORNITUOLOOICAL CUm.

Ill 1598 forty convicts were left on llie island l)y the Marquis de la
Roilic, who iiUi'ndfd to trunsfor tlieni to tlio mainland as soon as lir liad
Hi'lectc'd a site for a new colony. A storm, JioWL-ver, presently arose that
drove him eastward, and he finally returned to France where he is .«aid to
have been imprisoned. The convicts were not rescued for five or six years,
when all save a dozen liad perished, the survivors subsisting on cattle, seals
and berries, and clotiiing tiiemselves with skins and furs. Dining the first
half of the seventeenth century the island was visited by English and
I'^rench fishermen and hunters in pursuit of the seals, walruses and foxes that
llien abouiidi'd, and by others who hunted tiie cattle for their iiides. In
1633 John Rose of Boston, wiio was wri'cked upon tiie island, reported
having seen " more than eight hundred head of wild cattle and a great
many foxes many of wiiich were black." After lie liad ellected his escape
in a boat built from llie wreckage of his vessel, he returned again with
sevi'Uteon Acadians, wiio so slauglUered the cattli.' that few remained when,
some years later, a company arrived from Moslon iiaving the same eiul in
view. Apparently tiie cattle, foxes, and walruses were exterminated at
about tins time, for we find little or no reference to them during the next
hundred years.

About 1738 Rev. Andrew Le Mercier, also of Boston, restocked the
island with some domestic animals, expecting to settle there himself. The
wild ponies that to the present day are found in ' gangs ' all over the island
are said to be descendants of this stock, although it is thought by some
that they originally came from the wreck of a Spanish vessel.' Since
Le Mercier's lime the cattle have been at least ser.ii-domcslicated, for the
island became during the latter half of the eigiiteenth century a place of
resort, not only of honest fishermen, but of pirates and wreckers, attracted
no doubt by the constantly increasing luiiniier of vessels tiiat were cast
away upon it. Grues(jme tales are told of the robbery and murder of the
unfortunate people who escaped the sea only to fall into the hands of these
miscreants, and blood-curdling gliost-stories have grown tnit of this dark
period of the island's history. In order to protect life and property, tiie
Government of Nova Scotia in the autumn of 1801 established on Sable
Island tiie first relief or humane establisliment, tluU has developed into tiie
well-equipped life-saving service there today. Since 1801 accurate records
of the havoc wrought b)^ storms in the pliysical aspect of the island, and of
the many wrecks that liave occurred on its outlying bars, have been kept
by the various superintendents. Up to 1882, no less than one hundred and

'For an account of thum see J. It. Gilpin 'On introiluccil species of Novn Scolia,' Trans. N, S.
Inst. Nat. Sci., Vol. I (printed II), pt. I, 1864, pp. Co-68.

TIIIC irsWICIl Sl'ARROW 7

fifty known wrecks liail occmruil, and by Januaiy i, 1895, eijrhtcen more
liad been added, two of tbein occurrinj,' during tlie summer of 1894, ""*•'■■
my depurtiiie. A ♦ wreck-cliarl ' of the islanil was prepared by Mr. S. D.
Macdonald of Halifax in 1882, and publislied i)y tlie Department of Marine
of the Dominion Government.' It lias been re"is,.d up to 1890, but there
are supposed to have been oilier unknown wrecks far out on the bars, of
vvliich there is no evidence save perhaps broken spars or a dead body (liiny
by the breakers high on the sandy beach. Richly does Sable Island
deserve the title ' An Ocean Graveyard,' and well has it been said, " No
other island on this globe can show so appalling a record of siiipwreck and
disaster ! "

One of the most fascinating pages in the history of the island, and one
that certainly bears most directly upon the history of our Sparrow, is that
which records its gradual demolition by storms and ocean currents. It is
now api)arenl]y a ijuestion of years, not centuries, before tlie island bectinies
a submerged bar like those witii whicii it is surrounded 01 those which extend
out for miles from either end. There have been periods wlien it has
melted away with startling rapidity, and then again others during which
little or no change has taken place. The western extremity has sullered
most, while the eastern has been little aflected save perhaps by the fury
of the gale that, drifting the sand before it, builds up or pulls down the
miniature mountains with surprising rapidity. It has been thought that
the whole island has been moving eastward grain by grain, but siu:h a
statement has not been fully substantiated. It is the western end and
southern shore that have been steailily washing away, and the process goes
on more rapidly, the smaller the island becomes, while tiiere is little or no
compensatory building up of the eastern end.

Its size prior to 1775 must ••emain a matter of conjecture. In that j'ear,
however, charts compiled from Freucii sources show it to have been no less
than forty miles in length and two and one quarter in breadth. In 1799 an
Admiralty survey, carefully made, gave the island a length of thirty-one
miles and a breadth of two. In 1808 a special survey of tlie island made
it thirty miles in length and two in breadth, with hills from one hundred
and fifty to two hundred feet in heigiit, reaching their maximum elevation
near the eastern end. In 1815 another chart shows the length to be only
twenty-nine miles, and yet we learn that within the four years prior to 1814
no less than four miles of the western end had crumbled into the sea, as
proved by the situation of the main sta'.ion erected in 1801. It was then

' A facsin-ile of this map, together with an account o ' the island, may be found : J. M. Hxley, ' An
Ocean Gravcyu.d,' Scribner's Magazine, I, May, 188;, pp. 603-610.

8 MKMOIUS Ol' Tllf': NiriTAI.I, ORNITIIOI.fKJICAL CLUB.

five miles from tlie western end. Its lemoval was necessitated in 1814,
in i8jo, and in 1833. tiie sea advancinjf meantime eleven miles. A survey
in 1829 gave a leiif^tl-. of only twenty-two miles, wliile an(jliier in 1851
increased this to twenty-three, since which time no survey has been made.
Two wooden li<fl>thouses, one at either end, were erected in 1873, the
distance between them in a direct line being twent}'-one miles, with
probably a mile or so of grass-covered hills beyond them at cither
extremity. In 1882 the sea u'ldermined the western lighthouse, and it
was hastily taken down and moved 1218 feet further eastward. In 1888
a second removal became necessary, and tliis time it was transported
nearly two miles eastward (9100 feet SE. by E., i E.) to the site it
now occupies. Meanwhile the sea has advanced to within about half a
mile, and in a very few years will again threaten its destruction.

These figures are tlerivcd iirincijially from one of Mr. Macdonald's
interesting papers on Sable Island.' It will be observed that they are
somewhat confiicting, but whether this is due to inaccuracies in the surveys,
to the difiiculty of determining exactly where the ends of the island are,
or to an actual movement eastward of the sand, the fact remains that
the island is far smaller than it was a century ago.

Regarding tlie history of the lagoon or lake which has always occupied
a large portion of the island, I cannot do better than ipiote a few lines
from liie Rev. George Patterson's excellent and exhaustive paper," where
he s .ys : —

The cli;iii;4cs going on in llio pliysical striictnre of the isl.ind appear further from
what has taken place in tlic lake. Some time hufore the first government estahlish-
incnt was placed on ilic island there was an opening into it from the north. The
supcriiUcndenl, writing in 1808, says thai 'it is coniple'.'^ly sliut, and it is dilticiilt to
trace where it has been.' The superintendent in 1826 mentions the same fact, but
urges the reopening of it, wiiich he thinks might be acromplished at moderate expense,
in which case it would serve as a harbor of refuge for ves.sels of fifty tons. Some
years .after a terrific storm caused a similar opening from tlie south, through which
small vessels entered for shelter, hut in the year 1836 a similar storm filled it up
again, inclosing two American vessels wiiich had taken refuge widiin.

For some time after the formation of the government estahlishinent on the island,
this lake was fifteen miles long, and, though gradually becoming shoal from the
material drifting into it, it afforded a very convenient means of transport by boat.
The residents largely used it in conveying supplies to the east end, in bringing wood

'Trans. N. .S. Inst. Nat. ,Sci., Vol. Vt, pt. iv, iS86, pp. 110-119.

' Rev. ("icorge I'atterson, ' Sable Island, its history and phenoinena,' Trans. Royal Soc. Canada
Sec. II, 1894, pp. 1-49.

THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 9

from the same quarter, and wrecked materials to the main station. Rut during tiie
winter of i33i a severe gale opened a guleh near the east end, which has so drained
it that it is now only eight miles long, and so shallow as to be useless (or transport.
The destructive agency of the sea appears farther in the ridge which separates
the lake from the sea on the sonth. Originally it was half a mile wide, with hills
upwards of fifty feet in height, now it is a narrow beach, in some places not more
than a hundred yards wide and so reduced in height that the sea breaks over it in
stormy weather. Should this barrier be removed, the work of demolition will go on
more rapidly than ever. (Pp. 43-44-)

The fragments of history here presented have been gathered from many
sources, and selected with a view to showing the vicissitudes through which
all animal life on the island must have passed. It now remains for me to
describe the island as I found it in 1894.

Physical Aspect of Sable Island.

«
The geologists tell us Sable Island is either the remains of a sand
continent of remote glacial origin or, more probably, a vast heap of glacial
detritus brought from the north by the ice-floes of a more modern periou
and heaped up by existing ocean currents.' At all events, it now forms
the ribbon-like crest of a submerged bank two hundred miles long by ninety
in breadth, similar to those extending from Newfoundland to the shoals of
Nantucket. A scant twenty miles of rolling sand-hills is all that remains
today above the .surface of the ocean, some of the sand mountains attaining
an elevation of eighty feet and resembling in almost every particular save
greater size the stretches of sand dunes to be found along our Atlantic sea-
board,— the same treeless aspect, the s;ime sparse covering of coarse
beach-grass, the same deserts of shifting white sand. But on Sable Island
in the hollows among the hills and often to their very summits, grasses
grow luxuriantly in many places, and a large part is carpeted with the
evergreen Crowberry {Einfclruin nigrum L.) and Juniper {Jiini ferns
nana Willd.) which are very characteristic productions. Between the
two lighthouses it stretches in the form of a slender crescent, the
concavity towards the Nova Scotia coast distant at its nearest point
eighty-six geographical miles. The horns of the crescent extend at

'.S. U. Macilonald, 'Sa))le Island, no. 3, its probable origin and submergence,' Trans. N. S. Inst.
Nat. Sci., VI, pt. iv, 188O, 265-280.

I

2

lO Mli.MOIRS Ol' Tin: NUTTAl.L OKMTIIOLOGICAL CLUI5.

either end in several parallel submerged bars a distance of liftecn miles or
more, where vessels have been lost a dozen miles from the nearest land.
About a mile of grassy sand-hills now intervenes between each light and
the northeast and northwest bars respectively. The former dries for
several miles at low tide in fine weather, but the latter only shows little
patches of damp sand, the remains of what was once part of the island;
and if you stand at the western extremity, the sand is actually eaten
away from beneath your very feet by a swift current from the southeast.
As far as the eye can reach, an imposing white line of breaking surf
extends out on both the bars.

The greatest width of the island hardly anywhere exceeds a mile, and
a lagoon called Lake Wallace, or simply ' the lake,' stretching along more
than one half of its length, diminishes the land area of the western portion
fully one half. The lake, at most a few Innidred yards in width and very
shallow, is separated from the ocean southward by a bare sand-bar over
which the sea breaks in time of storm and through which it has forced two
narrow inlets. As we have seen, not many years ago this ' south beach,'
as it is called, was a substantial barrier of grassy sand-hillocks. Between
tlie lake and the ocean northward intervenes a backbone of hillocks that
increase in size eastward, until they culminate in a huge continuous
bank. This maintains, almost without a break for six or eight miles, an
elevation of sixty to eighty fe"t. Viewed in the fog it .oums up like
an important range of mountains, descending abruptly on the ocean side,
and sloping more gradually into the central valleys of the island, which
are blocked at every turn with lesser hills and diversified with numerous
fresh-water ponds. A less impressive southern range of hills extends
along the shore eastward from the foot of the lake. The wind has carved
them into numberless peaks, and here as well as in many other places its
resistless force is shown.

Once let a ' raw ' spot (as it is aptl}' called) be found, — a break perhaps by
hoofs of cattle in the grassy hillside, — and soon a hollow is whirled out that
succeeding storms convert into a great gully or channel through the hills,
over the steep sides of which hangs a feathery curtain of tangled roots and
grass, vainly endeavoring to shield the edges from further injury. From
one end to tlie other the island is a series of startling contrasts, verdure and
sand desert going hand in hand. A single winter's storm may conij etely
change the face of the landscape, spiriting away hillocks in this place,
building up others in that, and spreading a thick blanket of sand over what
was perhaps the fairest spot of all. This burying process produces the thin
layers of vegetable mould that alternaie in many places with the sand of
which the soil is almost wholly composed. The sand consists chiefly of fine

THE ll'SWIClI Sl'ARROW. II

rounded grains of white or transparent quartz, and no stones are found.'
Tiic beacli is strewn with shells of m..ny species, and its monotonous
stretches are relieved by the ribs and other fragments of unfortunate
vessels. Inland, the continuous areas of vegetation arc much more exten-
sive over the eastern half of the island tlian elsewhere; and evergreen
shrubs almo.st entirely replace the turf-covered areas of its western part.

Climatic.

The climate of Sable Island is colder in summer and warmer in
winter than its situation (East End Light, Lat. 43° 58' 10" N., Long. 59° 46
20" VV. ; West End Light, Lat. 43" 56' 40" N., Long. 60° 6' W.)' would
indicate. It lies in the cold Labrador current sweeping down from Baflin's
Bay. Hence the cool summers ; for Mr. Boutilier tells me there are only
about twenty days in each year when the mercury goes above 70" F. and
the highest recorded temperature in the last ten years has been 78.5° F.
Proximity to the Gulf Stream tempers the winters, and only twice in the
same period has the temperature been as low as 6° F., rarely reaching the
single figure. Snow does not lie long, out wastes rapidly in the salt air.
This same proximity to the Gulf Stream explains, too, the dense and fre-
quent fogs that prevail .it all seasons of the year. The warm, moisture-
laden air of the Gulf Stream is carried by southerly breezes till it meets
the cold atmosphere of the Labrador current, when a condensation of the
aqueous vapor takes place, resulting in the fogs that often roll in, particu-
larly in summer, as far as the Nova Scotia coast. I was informed that
June and July were the months most to be dreaded, and that only a few
years ago fog had prevailed at this time for nine consecutive weeks. I
was more favored, and although there was fog of varying density almost
every day of my stay, and occasional rain, the sun would sometimes
struggle through for a few moments. Once or twice it shone brightly in
the crisp ai., a stiff westerly breeze driving the fog-banks out to sea, and
dashing little waves upon the lagoon's shores until they were lined with
snowy drifts of foam. It was a pretty sight, and large balls of the foam,
diminishing in size as they sped, were chased along by the wind,
leaving behind them queer white trails on the moist beach.

' Cf. .S. D. M.ic(Ional<l, 'Geological Notes," Trans. N. S. Inst. Nat. Sci., Vol. V, pi. iv, i88i, pp.
337-339-

'From 'List of Lights and T njT- Sign .lis on the coasts rivers and Lakes of the Dominion of
Canada. Corrected to ist January, 1894.'

12 MF.MOIKS OK TIIK NUTTAIX ORNITIKM.OGICAI. CLUa

Tlie extremes of temperature encountered by me were 6o» F. on June 9
.„d 40" F. on June 13, and I can assn-e my readers that w.lh a
temperature .eldom over 50" F., winter clothing and an overcoat d.d not

'"' ThTviolence of the wind and the fury of winter storms can only be
estimated by U.e changed aspect of hill and valley after a long-contmued
'ale. I encountered one when the wind attained a ve oc.ty of over fdty
n.iles an hour, and I can now realize wl>at it must have been on one
occasion when for twenty-four hours the anemometer registered a rate of
o k'ss than sixty-tbur miles an hour, with bursts that reached e.ghty-

seven.

Floija.

U was impossible to study satisfactorily the llora of Sable Island, for
.1 tl>e time of my visit few of the plants had mure than just oi-ned the.r
earliest buds, and of the species collected, many could not be pos. vely
ck t aid e , by so able a botanist as Dr. N. L. Britton of Columb.a College,
who was kind enough to make the attempt for me and to fu, n.sh he seen Ufic
names. The most abundant production is the Beach-grass {An.notMa
arcnaria (L.)) which grows, just as it does on our sandy coasl^ni tufts
r; Caches all over the island, from the edges of the low blufls under-
mined by the sea to the most inland ponds in the v.c.n.ty of which .
..in.^les with other grasses, sedges and rushes. Some of these could be
idenaned, as Juncm ballkns Utloralh Engelm. and Juncouics campcslrc
( L) , but there are also some unrecognizable species of Carcx and / ammm.
Timothy (Phhumtratcnsc L.) and Red-top Grass {AgrosUs alhu vulgaris
With.), as well as Red Clover (Tri/olium fralcnsc L.), have been
cultivated near the stations, and While Clover ( T. rcpcnsl..) .s frequently
met witl,, but man's inducnce has been at work on the island for so many
centuries that it is almost impossible .0 draw the line between indigenous
species, if such there be, and those artificially introduced. Next to the
Beach-rass, the heather-like, alpine Cowberry {Emtctrum vigrnml..),
with its" black little berries, vies with the sturdier Juniper (/««./.r«5 ««««
Willd.) in abundance. The thick, yielding carpet that these two prostrate
evergreen shrubs spread over a large portion of the island does much to
preserve it from the tierce attacks of tlu wind, and to soften the bleak
and desolate aspect it might otherwise present. To walk or ride over this
bed of matted boughs gives one the sensation of being upon heavy tapestry
laid upon a rough and hummocky surface. The lulls and valleys at the

TIIR IPSWICH SPARROW. I3

eastern end of tlie island are so covered that wher softened by a veil of fog

tlie eflect is nol unlike thnt of the rolling prairie lands of tlie West. The
Crowbeny is the more abundant and the more generally distributed of
the two species. Rose bushes, apparently liosa nitiua Willd., and
bluebeiry bushes, apparently Vacciiiium fcnnsylvtiiticn:n Lam., abound,
especially in the vicinity of the little ponds, where all vegetation is more
luxuriant and where late in the season great beds of roses are to be
seen. ^^arge numbers of Cranberries {Schollcra macrocarpa (Ait.))
grow wild, and the yearly crop that is gathered amounts sometimes to
several hundred bairelfuls. From the trailing vines in the damp hollows
among the hills the large and juicy berries of last year were still to be
gathered at the time of my visit. The bh:ebcrry bushes were blossom-
ing tlie second week in June, many of the tiny sprigs trailing in the sand,
partly covered by it, and the leaf buds of the rose bushes were little more
than half unfolded. Strawberries {Fnii^uriu canadensis Michx.) grow
in profusion, and the plants were in lull blossom during my stay. The
Partridgeberry {Milchclla rcpcns L.), the Bunchberry (Corntts cana-
densis L.) and the Bayberry {Myrica cerijcra L.) are also found.

No trees grow on Sable Island, and eflbrts to introduce them have
proved lutlle. To be sure a stunted willow bush stands in the superin-
tendent's dooryard, protected by a board fence, but each winter the icy
winds nip the few shoots that dare to push above this shelter. All the
bushes of every kind are much dwarfed, few of them reaching half way to
the knee, but forming very dense clumps in sheltered situnlioiis. Frequently
the clumps catch the drifting sand ; grass, weeds, and moss soon find a foot-
hold, and some day a turfy hummock is the result. This perhaps gradually
extends its limits and joins its neighbor, and in the course of time the charac-
teristic hummocky ground of certain parts of the island is formed. At the
time of my arrival all looked bare and brown. Before my departure nearly
the whole surface had acquired a visibly greener tinge with here and there the
ruddy glow of blossoming Sorrel {Runicx accloscUa L.), while such weeds
as the Beach Pea {Lalhyrus maritimns (L.)), Everlasting {Gnaphalium
sp. ?), and Meadow-rue (Thalictrum sp.?) were becoming conspicuous.
Blue \\o\{i\.^ {Viola ohliqua Hill) and white ones (V. lanceolata L.) were
abundant, and many inconspicuous plants were pushing above the ground
and unfolding their early buds or blossoms, the majority of them too young
for accurate determination. This is to be regretted, for my specimens
show that not less than forty species occur. Several mosses and lichens
are found, among them a Sphagunm. Eel-grass {Zosicra marina L.)
abounds in the lagoon, and occurs as drift along its shores, associated
with green fdniy sheets of Sea Lettuce {Ulva sp.?) that .soon become

14

MKMUIUS OK Tllli: NUTTALl. OUNITIIOLOGICAL CLUH.

drit.'i and bleached. Rockwced {AscofhyUnm nodosum (I..))- torn
from its ancliora^'e on some distant shore, is daily cast on the beach,
but like some of thj shells found there, of West Indian species, its appear-
ance is quite accidental. There is one more plant tliat is wordiy of
mention, the Sandwort, as represented hy Arcnaria fcfloidcs L. and A
g-nrn/ami/ca (Ret/,). It covers the dry bars, and among its shiny leaves,
only a few inches high when I left, the Terns are fond of placing their nests.
As for the "golden-rod, asters, and blue lilies" that are said to bloom
later in the season, I failed to obtain any specimens. Some of the graoses
are cut for hay, but it did not look as if the crop could be a very heavy one.
Potiitoes and a few other vegetables are raised, but successful farming in such
sandy soil is out of the question, even if the simimers were not so cold. I
make no pretence to a complete enumeration of the plants of Sable Island,
for reasons given, but those that I have mentioned arc among the most
conspicuous and characteristic of its flora, which resembles in many respects
that of lh<' adjacent mainland.

Mammals.

It is not within the scope of the present paper to enter into a discussion of
the whole fauna' of the island, and I therefore pass at once to some of the
higher groups. Of the mammals there is little to be said, for the once
abundant Walrus {Odobicniis rosmarns (Linn.)) has long since been
exterminated, and, with the exception of a couple of species of Seals, there
are no mammals of any sort found there today, save those artificially
introduced by man. Great numbers of the Harbor Seal {Phoca vitti-
lina L.) are resident. They were in large herds or smaller groups,
basking along the beach or disporting m the lake. At the time of my
visit many of tlie new-born young were seen, and could be easily cap-
tured. Sometimes tliey were found straying inland, where they perished
from hunger or from the dogs that delighted to worry them. When a
herd was approached the old Seals would flounder do vn the beach
into the water, leaving behind them a few of the mottled young either
sound asleep or making no eflbrt to escape. No great fear was shown
by the adults, but they all evinced great curiosity, and they would follow
me for considerable distances, swimming along with wide-opened eyes,

' l)t. (■ilpiii's pamphlet (1S58) is tlic only treatise ever puMislieil that h.xs attempted a sketch of the
fauna ami lloiaof S.il)lu IsKinil. To it is appended a list of thirty eight species of moUuscaby J. Willis.

TIIIC ll'SWICII Sl'AKKOW.

15

their shiny blaclc liuiuls ranging into a semi-circle just beyond the breakers
if I paused to watch them.

Occasionally I sa^v small groups of the larger Harp Seal {P/ioca gnvn-
landica Fabr.), the young of which are born on the bars in the month of
January. I was shown ilie pure white skins of the young. They are found
only in small numbers.

When we consider the probable origin of Sable Island, an up-building
of grains of sand from the depths of the ocean, and the changes through
which it has passed, the absence of mammals upon it is not surprising. The
history of the absolute extermination, often directly or in^'irectly by the hand
of man, at one period or another, of 2very introduced species including the
domestic animals, is a striking fact. The life tenure of each has also
depended on a limited food supply and the severity of the winters. Even
the wild ponies, of which there are several hundred, succumb when their
pastures are buried by sand-drift. Only last winter (1893-94) scores
died rather than venture from under the protecting banks and face a
long-continued storm. Sheep do not survive the winters. The extermina-
tion of the wild cattle and foxes that occupied the island in the seventeenth
century has ah'eady been mentioned elsewhere. The wild swine were
destroyed in 1814, because of their ghoulish propensities in times of wreck.
Even the inhabitants themselves have occasionally been reduced to the
extremity of eating horse flesh. There h'lve been plagues of rats in con-
sequence of the frequent wrecks. The stores of the first superintendent
were so extensively demolished by these pests, that for a time he and his
men were actually threatened with starvation. Rabbits, ordinary pet
rabbits, were first introduced over tit'ty years ago, and apparently survived
many years. It is said that about 1827 a Snowy Owl took up his allude on
the island, feasting upon tiiem and remaining throughout the summer.
Towards 1880 some cats were turned loose, which fell upon the rabbits and
rats and rapidly exterminated them. Shortly afterwards they themselves
succumbed to winter hardships. In 1882 rabbits were again introduced,
and became so abundant and such a nuisance that cats were again imported
from Halifax to destroy them, seven in the summer of 1889 and thirty more
in 1890. While tiie cats that survived the winter were still feasting upon
the remnant of the rabbits, seven red foxes from the mainland were intro-
duced in June, 1891, and in a single season they made an end of all the
rabbits and the cats. The foxes have greatly multiplied, and are now
exterminating the birds, sucking the eggs of the wild Ducks, and devouring
the Terns which they catch at night on their nests. That the Ipswich
Sparrow has been on the bill of fare of all these rats and cats and foxes
(and prior to 1814, very likely, the wild swine) we can hardly doubt, —
will it be spared their fate?

X6 MEMOiR.S OK THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUU.

niRDS.

The total niimlicr of species of l)ircls breediiiy on Sable Island is ten,
and ill relative order of alniiuianre they stand about as follows : S/t'riitt
f>iir(i</istpa, Sterna hit undo, ^u.alitis scinipalmata, Amnwdnnniis frin-
ccps, TrtHi^a niiuutilhi, yE^ialilis mclodu circnmchicla. Sterna doiigalli,
Mcrj^anser serrator, Anas ohscura, and Aclitis macuhiria.

Tlie sandy cliaracte. of the island, with its lajfoon and its bars, makes it
a paradise for Terns, which are by far tlie most abundant and most con-
spicuous of its feathered inhabitants. Tliese snowy and graceful birds
hover thick as snowflakes over the level stretches of dry sand-bar
where great colonies lay their eggs regardless of storms and tides that
sometimes urge the heavy surf far beyond its usual bounds and sweep
away eggs and young by the thousand. The eggs are excellent eating,
and * t-'gg-picking,' as it is called, is systematically carried on by the life-
saving crews for several weeks after the birds begin to lay. Finally ever}'-
body wearies of egg diet and the Terns are left to rear their young without
further molestation from man. The 'egg-pickers' pass over the same
ground nearly every day and spare such previously overlooked nests as
chance to contain three eggs or more. I was told that, as the season
advanced, the eggs became so much more plentiful that a smaller and
smaller territory needed to be covered each time before the pails and
baskets were fdled to overflowing. Since foxes have been introduced the
Terns have had a new and dangerous enemy, as attested by the numerous
wings and feathers that lie about the fo.x burrows. It is to be hoped every
eflorl will be made by the proper authorities to protect these birds from
their worst enem}', man — or, to be more exact, in this case, woman, —
for elsewhere along our Atlantic coast they have been wellnigh exter-
minated in order to furnish tlie strange lieadgear that Fashion thought-
lessly imposes.

Probably more than two thirds of the birds I saw were Arctic Terns, and
a large portion of the other third Common Terns, with a goodly sprinkling
of Roseates, the latter a species hardl}' to be expected so far northward and
associated with such boreal species as the Least Sandpiper and Semipalmated
Plover. A few individuals of the Arctic Terns were in the peculiarly
striking plumage in which they were once described as the Portland Tern.
Dissection showed that such birds were immature and not breeding. Rare
indeed was the moment when a Tern was not somewhere in sijrht, and the
incessant din of their cries was never out of my ears. Even during the
midnight hours, when all was still and the distant undertone of the dashing
sea seemed hushed, the sudden cry of a restless bird passing overhead

THE IPSWICH SPARROW. T7

would be heard. The uproar occasioned by tlie invasion of their colonies
was augmented by every bird within call of its fellow. Althougli tlie dif-
ferent species usually selected different parts of the beach for nesting
grounds, the multitude of birds in the air .seeded to preclude the proper
identification of the eggs. But on Sable Island, just as I have found it
to be elsewhere, and contrary to the statements of other observers, it is
perfectly possible, with sulTicient time at one's disposal, eventually to mark
down individual birds on ttieir nests and, when they are disturbed, to follow
them with the eye throughout the mazes of the hovering hordes.

The presence of the Semipalmated Plover or Ringneck, breeding abun-
dantly, was one of the many surprises that awaited me on this interesting
island. The nearest locality at which it has recently been recorded as
breeding is the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.' However,
Dr. Gilpin in 1858 wrote as follows: " Ringneck {C/inradiiiis Torticollis)
and Peeps {Tringa tniiiiita) were breeding in numbers. ..." " Torti-
collis,'" a curious confounding with 'wry-neck,' of course refers to two
species, but the reference to tlie Least Sandpijier is certainly a valid record
of fact. The nests of the Semipalmated Plover were little more than hollows
in the sand, carelessly lined with a few scraps of eel-grass or bits of dry grass,
and were placed, without the least attempt at concealment, in all kinds of
places, the sandier, more barren situations being usually chosen. A favorite
site was among the fringe of drift cast up on the shore of the lagoon, where
the eggs harmonized marvelously with their surroundings, and were easily
overlooked. The bird leaves tiie nest the moment an intruder is spied.

To my surprise, I find that there is no intimation by those who have met
with this species in its northern haunts that it has any love song. As a
matter of fact the male sings frequently and loudly, though not very musi-
cally. The liquid sweetness of the well-known call-note is lacking, and
there is some suggestion of the A-ow-kow notes of the Black-billed Cuckoo.
The song consists of a rather harsh, resonant t-ichiip, monotonously
repeated over and over at the rate of about forty times per minute, and ex-
tending over a period of four or five minutes. During its execution the
bird sweeps erratically hither and thither, near the ground, with slowly
flapping wings that are momentarily held extended straight up above the
body. The flight is most suggestive of that of the Niglithawk, and, like the
song, it is not at all what one might expect from acquaintance with the
birds during their migrations. On Sable Island they are known as
' Black Ringnecks,' to distinguish them from the ' White Ringnecks,' as
the Belted Piping Plovers are called.

'Bishop, Auk, VI, 1889, 147.

i8 .Mi;.M(;iKs OK riiK mttall okmtmolooical club.

The presiMice of tlic latter subspecies, Iieretofore considered a bird of
the Nortlnvest and straying only occasionally to the Atlantic coast, was
another of Sable Island's surprises. They are outnumbered by the Semi-
paltnati'd Plovers |ierhaps a liuiuhed Ibid, but the}" are moderately
abundant. 'I'hey lay their eggs in hollows made in the sand, without any
atti-mpt at a nest. The eggs are like those of the ordinary Piping Plover
(which bird I did not lind on the island), fniely speckled on a light
ground, and quite unlike the eggs of the Seinipalmated Plover, which are
heavily spotted on a dark grounil. The birds themselves, including the
females, had the neck-ring of black complete and conspicuous. The
([uestion of distribution raised by these facts is an intcrestinif one.

Another un(;.\pected species Ibund on Sable Island was the Least Sand-
piper, although Dr. Gilpin uuntions it back in 1858. Recent observers
have found it breeding in Labrador, and doubtl'ully refer it to Newfounil-
land and the Magdalen Islands. On Sable Island it abounds, though
far less abundant than the S "mipalmated Plover, and unlike the latter
contines it If to the turfy stretches adjacent to the inland ponds. Tiiis
is another water-bird whose love song has never been mentioned by those
who seem to have been well acquainted with the species in its northern
haunts. This is all the more surprising, inasmuch as the song is striking
— quite musical in fact, and more metallic than that of the Seinipalmated
Plover, which, however, it resembles in monotonous repetition. It, too,
is delivered on the wing, but the flight of the little Sandpiper is quite
different. He poises often high in air with a scries of rapid flaps of
the wings, followed by a soaring forward (never in circles) while the
wings are stifHy set for a few moments. The flight of the Meadowlark,
or of the Spotted Sandpiper, is suggested. Meanwhile the song, consisting
of two rapidly repeated syllables, the inflection rising, and the emphasis
falling on the secoi.d, continues to vibrate in the air. The intonation •
is very like that of the spring note of tlie common toad, and the couplet
toi'i-iir' is repeated one hundred and thirty times every minute. As the
length of the whole performance is usually about ten minutes without
any break, the monotony of such a song is very obvious, although it
blended pleasantly with the harsh cries of the ever-present Terns and had
a silvery tinkle about it when heard off in the drifting fog. At its close
the performer would glide to the ground with t!ie low, cheerful chuckle
that is familiar to us during the migration, and perhaps scamper away with
his mate along the margin of some sandy pool. The nest is placed in the
dry turf where there is actually not enough grass to conceal a croquet-
ball, and tiie males assist in incubating the eggs which are so extraordin-
arily large for the size of the birds. They sit on the nests until fairly

TMK IPHWICII SPARROW. ^ =- ^ IJ

trodden upon, and then tumble along over the ground, as if injured, to
divert your attention from their treasures, which stand vt'ry nearly on
their pointed ends in the deep cup prepared for liiem. The birds are tame
and certainly deserve the pleasing accounts that liave been written of them
by Audubon, Nuttall, Dr. Coues, and others.

Of the two species of Uucks that are summer residents on tiie island, the
Red-breasted Merganser is the more abundant, altht)ugh both are much
diminished in numbers comjiared with what they used to be, and the fo.xes
are now making sad havoc with the handful that remains. Dr. Gilpin
mentions '* HIack Duck (Anas ohscnro) and the Shell Drake (Merganser)."
Where n Duck can be seen silting on her nest in an exposed situation, as is
often the case, the foxes do not have to searcli for them, and it is only some
of the nests hidden away in liie brier-patches that can possibly escape.

The rarest of the summer residents is the Spotted Sandpiper, for I
knew of but two pairs on the island.

I have now enumerated, with the exception of the Ipswich Sparrow, all
the birds that breed, but there are many other visitors. I used to see almost
daily a flock of Kittiwake Gulls (Rissa /n'lhictyla), but dissection of speci-
mens showed that there were no signs whatever of breeding. Occasionally
single birds or even flocks of the Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls
{^Larus arffciilnliis stnithsonianns and /,. t/Kin'ntis) were seen, and on foggy
nights Petrels {Ocainodro)ita Inicorhoa) used to come about the lighthouses
in numbers, following their nocturnal proclivities, and wanilering doubtless
from their burrows on the Nova Scotia coast. A few dusky Jaegers
(' Gull Chasers' or ' Bos'ns,' as they are called) were sometimes seen far out
over the bars. The only specimen I obtained was a bleached and
mummified carcass of Stcrcorarins parasiticus that had washed up on
the beach. During the early days of my stay a few belated migrants,
chiefly Warblers, played at hide and seek about the barns and woodpiles,
wondering perhaps how they had got into a country so devoid of sheltering
trees' and bushes. Soon they all disappeared, and it was later when
waifs from the mainland (such for instance as Jiinco /lycmulis, Empidonax
Jlavivcntris, Clta'tura fclagica, and others) made their appearance,
possibly losing their way in the fog or drifted along by the wind. After
loitering for a few days they, too, would disappear, to be replaced later
by other waifs. I was informed that in the spring few Shore-birds or
Ducks visit the island, and that in the autumn they are not as abundant
as the situation of the island would seem to promise.

If now I have been successful in placing before my readers a rough picture
of the island home of the Ipswich Sparrow, they will better appreciate the
historical sketch and life-history of the bird which I am about to present,
prefacing the same with the necessary synonymy and descriptions.

20 MEMOIRS OK THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

Synonymy.

Ammodramus princcps (Riaynard).
Ii'swicH Sparkuw.

Centronyx bairdii, Mavnard, Am. Nat. Ill, 554, 1869 ('original notice of
stipiMiscd otcurrencL' of Ci'ntronyx luiirdii in Ma.ssachusetts, the bird proving to be
a new species, Ammoiirttmiis priiuY/>s)\ Nat. (luide, 112, frontisp., 1870 (original
description and woodcut of the supposed C. luiin/ii). — .Xi.i.kn, Am. Nat. Ill, 513, 631,
1869-70 (further notice of same). — Samukls, lids. New Kngl. 581, 1870 (reference to
same) ; N. and K. Hds. 581, 1883 (— Bds. New Engl., 1870, retitled). — Urkwstkr, Am.
Nat. VI, 307, iH?.' (two additional ypecimens from Massachusetts). — Coi;es, Key,

>3S- .^.S2. '872.

Passerculus princcps, Mavnard, Am. Nat. VI, 637, 1872 (explanation of
error, and tiie supposed C. haiitlii named Passerculus princcps^ \ Nat. (Juide, 2d. ed.,
112, 1877 (colored plate, text revised); Bds. Florida, pt. iv, loi, 1878 (good general
account, colored plate); Hds. K. N. Am. loi, 1881 (= Uds. Florida, 1878, retitled). —
C'oi;iis, Key, 352, 1872 ; Am. Nat. VII, 696, 1873 (brief references to the early cap-
tures) ; Check-List, 31, 1873; Field Orn. (part 2, Check-List), 31, 1874 ( = reprint
of 1873 Check-List) ; Bid!. N. O. C. Ill, i, 1878 (synonyny, bihliof^rapliy) ; Check-List,
id. ed.. 52, 160, 1882 ; Key, 2d ed., 361, 1884. — Baird, Brkw. and Ridhw. Hist. N.
Am. Bds. I, 533, 540, pi. 25, f. 2, 1874 (general account, with description and colored
plate of headj. — Brkwkr. I'roc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. XVII, 441, 1875 (New F.ngland) ;
///■(/. XIX, 305, 1878 (further records) ; ///W. XX, 270, 1879 (references). — Brown,
Rod and Gun, VI, 81, 1875 (Maine); Bull. N. O. C. II, 27, 1877 ( New Hamp.shire,
doubtful); Lippincott's Mag. XXIII, 622, 1879 (woodcut, Maine); Bull. N. O. C. VII,
190, 1882 ; Froc. Portl. .Soc. Nat. Hist., 13, 1882. — Brkwstkr, Bull. N. XC. I, 18,

1876 (New England) ; ibid. 52, 1876 (New Brunswick); Proc. Bost. Soc. N. H. XXII,
374, 1883 (not found on Magdalen Islands). — Jordan, Man. Verteb., 84, 1876. —
Merriam, Bull. N. O. C. I, 52, 1876 (Connecticut) ; Trans. Conn. .Acad. IV, pt. ii. 36,

1877 ; Auk, I, 390, 1884 (Sable Island, Nova Scotia, probably breeding). — IJailey,
Bull. N. O. C. II, 78, 1877 (New York).— Giehel, Thes. Orn. Ill, 38, 1877 (placed
in Zoiwtiichia). — Minot, Bds. New Engl., 195, 1877 (general account); ibid. 2d ed.
(Brewster), 201, 1895. — Ai.len, Bull. Essex Inst., X, 16, 1878 (Massachusetts). —
N.T.Lawrence, F. andS., X, 235, 1878 (early captures, New Jersey); Bull. N. O. C.
Ill, 102, 1878 (— previous record). — W. A. Jeffries, Bull. N. O. C. IV, 103, 1879
(habits, comparison of plumage with A. s. savanna). — Aniiorr, F. and S. XIV, 44,
1880 (New Jersey).— Ridoway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Ill, 178, 217, 1880; ibid. IV,
211, 1881 ; Auk, I, 292, 1884 (supposed eggs from Sable Island, N. S.). — Woolsey,
Bull. N. O. C. V, 121, 1880 (Connecticut).— Scott, Bull.N. O. C. VI, 116, 1881 (New
Jersey). — Stearns, New Engl. Bd. Life, I, 235, 1881.^ Chamheri.ain, Bull. N. H. Soc.
N. Bruns. I, 38, 1882 ( = Brewster, Bull. N. O. C. 52, 1876); Bull. N. O. C. VIII, 8,
1883 (flock); Bull. N. H. Soc. N. Bruns. II, 40, 1883 (= previous record). — Inger-
SOLL, Birds'-Nesting, 93, 1882 (nidification unknown). — Dutcher, O. and 0. VIII, 48,

TIIK IPSWICH SI'ARUOW. J I

1883 (New York); Auk, I, 31, 1884 ( =, previous record); ihiJ. II, 36, 1885 (ni;iny
specimens from Long Island, N. Y.). -- Gkikunc;, (). and (.). VIll, ii, 1883 (New
York). — Smith, F. and S. XIX, 466, 1883 (Maine, rare in spring). — LAmiii.i.E, IWs.
E. N. Am., 199, 1884 (mere mention). — llismu', (). andf). X, 30, 1885 (Connecticut).

— Dwic.MT, Auk, II, 105, 1885 (Delaware).

Passerculus maynardi, Kaihu, Dhkw. and Kii)(;w., Hist. N. Am. Bds. I, 541,
1874 (l(i/>suf pt'niur in text I.

Zonotrichia princeps, (Jikhki., Thes. Orn. Ill, 38, 77J, 1877 {Passerculus a
synonym of /.onotrli/iia).

Ammodramus princeps, Ridcwav, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. VIII, 354, 1885
(placed in };enus Amwudnimiis); Man. N. Am. Hds., 407, 1887. — Am.kn, Hull. .Anicr.
Mus., I, no. 7,251, 1886; .Auk, X, 126, 1893 (faunal relations). - A. (). If., t'heck-I.ist,
265, 1886; il'iii. al)ridf;ed ed.,48, 1889. — DinciiKK, Auk, III, 441, 1886 (distribution,
food); F. and S., XXXIV, 206, 1890.— Jone.s, Auk, 111,135, 1886 (Nova Scotia
mainland in spring). — SKNNKrr, -Auk, III, 135, iSSfl (Texas, probable error in label).

— CiiAMiiKKi.AiN, Cat. Ciinad. lids., 85, 1887 (New llrunswick. Nova Scotia) ; Table
Canad. Bds., 10, 1888; Ornith. U. S. and Can. (revis. NutfU's Man.) I, 326, 1891
(brief mention). — Cookk, Migrat. Miss. Valley, 188,1888 (occurrence in Texas
doubted). — JoRD.N, Man. Verteb. stii ed. 286, 1888. — Shaki'E, Cat. I'asserif. pt. Ill,
679, 1888 (synonymy, description). — Bishop, Auk, VI, 199, 1889. — Brown, Proc.
Portl. Soc. 39, 1889. — Davik, Nests and Kggs, 3d ed. 298, 1889 (=, pr.-ictically,
Ridgw. Auk, 1884). — Mavnard, Kggs N. Am. lids. 104, 1890 (autlienticatL'd eggs
unknown). — J. Nki.son, Geol. Surv. N. J. 11, 541, 1890. — Rivks, Proc. Newport Soc.
N. tl., Doc. VII, 73, 1890 (Virginia). — Wortmi.vcjton, Auk, VII, 21 1, 1890 (Georgia).

— AvERii.i,, Hridgeixirt Sci. Soc. 14, 1892 (Connecticut, rare). — Laurent, O. and ().
XVII, 88, 1892 (New JersL'y).— STt)Ni;, Auk, IX, 204, 1892 ; Bds. K. Penn. and N. J.
112, 1894 (New Jersey, winter resident). — Apuar, Key, 28, 1893. — Brewster, Auk,
X, 302, 1893 (=. Worthington, 1890); ibid., X, 365. — Chapman, Bds. Vicin. N. Y.
City, 59, 1894 (winter resident); Ilandb. Bds. Ka.st. N. A. 291, 1895. — Wright, Bird-
craft, 146, 1895.

Large Barren Ground Sparrow, Ipswich Sparrow, Pallid Sparrow, Maynard's
Sparrow, Ipswich Savanna Sparrow, of authors.

Habitat.

Sable Lsland, Nova Scotia, partly resident. In migration confined closely
to the seacoast soulluvard, wiiiterinir casually in New England, more abun-
dantly Irom New York to Virginia, and occasionally reaching Georgia.

Descriptions.

Male and female in breeding plumage. — Top of head sepia brown' with darker
streaking and a median ashy white line; rest of upper parts ashy or smoke gray,
most pronounced on the nape, obscurely streaked on the neck ind rump, broadly

' Ridgwaj's nomenclature of colors is used in these descriptions.

2 2 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

striped on the back and upper tail coverts with deep brown. Each feather (includ-
ing the scapuiaries, the tertiaries and most of the wing coverts) is centrally clove
brown, merging into an outer zone of sepia or Vandyke, broadly edged (narrowly
on the crown) with gray which, on the inner webs of the median feathers of the
crown, on the back, and on the tertiaries, becomes conspicuously ashy white and
forms two obscure wing-bars at the tips of the greater and median coverts. The
coverts and the outer webs of the scapuiaries, tertiaries and secondaries, are tinged
with pale russet. Quill-feathers of the wings and tail deep hair brown above, paler
below, the two outer rectrices slightly paler than the rest, the shafts lighter colored,
the webs (chiefly the oater) narrowly edged with ashy white. Under parts white,
streaked rather broadly with brown along thj sides from the bill to the tail and on
the breast, giving the etlect of spotting when the plumage is disarranged. The
individual feathers have central linear spots of clove brown that merge into narrow
zones of russet-tinged vandyke. A conspicuously dark, suhmalar streak is continued
along the sides in two fairly definite lines that are supplemented by others on the
breast, where they aggregate into an obscure central blotch, the entire inner web
of .some of the median feathers being of a rusty brown. The chin and jugulum are
immaculate and, together with a malar stripe, broadening posteriorly, are pure white.
A dark brown rictal streak curves upward towards a paler postociilar line. The
auriculars are ashy or brown-tinged ; the lores paler. A broad superciliary line is
canary yellow, becoming ashy posteriorly. The orbital ring is whitish, more or less
tinged with yellow. Lining of wing and longer under tail coverts (the shorter are
entirely white and conceal the others) white with dusky shaft streaks. Uend of wing
tinged with yellow, which sometimes also suffuses the lesser external coverts. Tibia;
pale Vandyke. Legs, in fresh specimen, yellowish or brownish flesh-color, fading in
time to a pale yellowish buff. Feet darker, especially at the joints. Mill in fresh
specimens: upper mandible bluish black, giayish or yellowish along posterior two
thirds of the edge, fading in time to a blackish brown ; lower mandible bluish gray
at tip, becoming a pale flesh brown posteriorly, and flesh-color at the base, fading
in time to a yellowish buff. Iris deep hazel brown. The sexes are alike in plumage
differing only in relative size.

During the breeding season, the plumage becoming much abraded, the pale
edgings of the feathers are lost to such an extent that the birds, instead of appearing,
like most species, paler and faded, are really darker, and the streakings are sharper,
than at any other season of the year. The yellow over the eye, acquired late in the
spring moult, is equally intense in both sexes, although the individual intensity is
variable. The feathers of the lower parts are white only at their extremities, and
if disarranged easily show the mouse-gray of their proximal portion.

Adults in autumn. Above hoary, even grayer than in spring dress, owing to the
broad ashy edgings of the feathers. The russet on the wings is a little more pro-
nounced, the Vandyke zone of the dorsal feathers is broader, and the superciliary
line is ashy white or only faintly tinged with yellow. IJeneath, a slight buffy cast
prevails except on the chin, abdomen, and lower tail coverts, and tiie streakings
are suffused, and paler and rustier than in spring. This effect is due largely to a
wider zone of the vandyke and to the long, veiling, white margins of the feathers.

THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 33

Young of t/ie year. Differs from the adult in the brownish, rather than grayish,
tints above, in the richer, deeper russet on the wings, and in the decided buffy wash
that suffuses the head, the neck, and the under parts. This buffuiess is most
marked on the sides and breast, nd it strongly tinges the malar stripe and auriculars.

Young in first plumage. {$ , juv., No. 3870, collection of J. Dwight, Jr., Sable
Island, Nova Scotia, August 25, 1894.) Top of head, neck and rump, yellowish
buff, tinged with ochraceous, and streaked narrowly with deep clove brown. An
indistinct median stripe on the crown is pale buff. I5ack and upper tail coverts
buffy or ashy, broadly striped with deep clove brown. Each feather has a large
median, almost black, elliptical spot that merges into a narrow zone of buff broadly
edged with ashy wiiite. The scapularies are partly edged with vandyke instead of
buff, thus producing two lateral brown stripes. Quill-feathers of the wings and
tail, clove brown, edged, chiefly on the outer webs, with pale cinnamon brown which
becomes broader and richer on the long tertiaries, while the margins of the first
primary, the short tertiaries, and the greater and median coverts, are conspicuously ashy
white, forming on the coverts two obscure wing-bars. The median coverts are
dusky and show little or no cinnamon. Beneath, pale yellowish buff, nearly white
on chin, abdomen, and under tail coverts; streaked, as in the adult, on the sides
and breast with deep clove brown, almost black. Rictal and postocular streaks
strongly tinged with vandyke. Auriculars pale ochraceous buff, forming a distinct
spot on the side of the hep ; lores dusky. Superciliary stripe ashy gray. Tibinj
pale cinnamon. Legs, f';et, and bill similar to those of ,'he adult, but somewhat paler.

The relatively larger siz.e and paler coloration of this species readily distinguish
it in all plumages from A. sandwichcnsis savanna, the average female being about the
size of the male savanna. The superficial resemblance to certain pale Western birds
referable to A. s. alaudinus, is in a few cases rather striking. The first plumage of
savanna is everywhere darker than that of princeps, having a deep ochraceous
instead of a buffy cast, while the margins of the tertiaries and secondaries are a
deep cinnamon, almost chestnut, and the streakings are somewhat heavier.

Measurements of 50 males: Length' 156(150-159); extent' 257 (253-262); wing
76 (73-79); t^i' 58-5 (SS-(i2); tarsus 22.5 (21.5-24.5); middle toe 17.4 (16.5-18);
claw of middle toe 5.1 (4-6); bill, chord of exposed culmen, ii (10-12.5); bill
from nostril, 8.5 (7.5-9.5) ; deoth of bill at nostril 5.9 (5-6.5).

Measurements of 50 females: Length'' 149 (142-159); extent^ 24i-3 (234-24'''
wing 71 (67-74); tail 55.4 (52-59); tarsus 21.5 (20-23); middle toe 16.7 (15.5
18); claw of middle toe 5 (3.5-6); bill, chord of exposed culmen, 10.7 (10-11.5);
bill from nostril 8.2 (7-9); depth of bill at nostril 5.5 (5-6).'

'Nine specimens only. ^

• .Sixteen specimens only.

' Average measurements in inches, of the above specimens, are as follows : —

(J: Length 6.14; extent 10.11 ; wing 2.99; tail 2.30; tarsus .89; middle toe .68; claw of middle toe

20; bill, chord of exposed culmen, .44, from nostril .33, depth at nostril .23.

? ; Length 5.87 ; extent 9.50; wing 2.79; tail 2.18; tarsus .85; middle toe .66; claw of middle to*

20; bill, chord of exposed culmen, .42, from nostril .32, depth at nostril .22.

2± MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

History of the Ipswich Sparrow.

Before intruding upon the Ipswich Sparrow in the privacy it has enjoyed
for so many years on its island home, it is worth our while to glean from
published records such information as has been current regarding an
imperfectly known species.

Inasmuch as I have found it to be the only resident bird upon Sable
Island, it is interesting to note in pn-rsing that as early as 1858, Dr. Gilpin
in a pamphlet upon the natural history of the island' said " A little brown
sparrow {Fringilla ) also summered and wintered there." While

this is undoubtedly a refercnc; to the Ipswich Sparrow, his importance was
not recognized, nor did he appear as a scientific fact until Mr. Maynard in the
' American Naturalist' for December, 1869, (p. 554) thus introduced him,
under anotiier bird's name, to the zoological world: "On Dec. 4th, 1868, I
shot a sparrow that was new to me, on the sand-hills at Ipswich. Through
the kindness of Prof. S. F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, to whom
I sent it for comparison with the only extant sficcimcn of th'^ Ccntronyx
Bairdii {\\h\c\\ is owned by him), it has been proved identical with that
collected by Audubon in 1843 on the banks of the Yellowstone River, in
the far West. My specimen diflers somewhat in size and general
coloration from Prof. Baird's. A detailed description, and the comparative
measurements of the two specimens will be given in a work about to be
published, entitled ' A Guide to Naturalists in collecting and preserving
objects of Natural History,' which will also contain a complete list of the
birds of Eastern Massachusetts, with critical notes and remarks relative to
ti.e localities in which some of the rarer species occur. A life-sized
engraving of the Ccntronyx captured at Ipswich will also be given."

In justice to Prof. Baird, it may be here stated that at that time there
was but one worn and faded specimen of Baird's Sparrow, taken nearly
thirty years before, with which to make comparison. The two species
really resemble one another but very slightly. In the same number of
the 'American Naturalist' (p. 513) Dr. J. A. Allen refers to the Ipswich
specimen at the beginning of his ' Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds of
Massachusetts,' a full account following in February, 1870, (p. 631) under
' Ccntronyx Bairdii' of his list. During the year 1870 Mr. Maynard's
'Naturalists' Guide' was published, containing a wood-cut and original
description of the supposed Baird's Sparrow (p. 112). As this really
applies to Aniinodramtis frinccps, I take the liberty of quoting the article
almost entire : —

' For exact references to this, and to succeeding papers quoted, reference should be made to the
bibliography appended at page 43.

THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 25

75. Centronyx Bairdii, V,mv.x^.— Bainrs Sparnnv. It is with pleasure that
I add this uniciuc sparrow to the Catalo;;ue of the Hirds of Eastern Massachusetts.
Previous to the capture of this there was but one specimen extant, which was one
of the original birds captured by Audubon upon tlic banks of tlie Yellowstone River,
July 26, 1843. My specimen, through the kindness of Professor S. F. Baird, has
been compared with the original, which is in his possession, and pronounced identi-
cal ; but as mine differs somewhat from his, I have thought best to give a descrip-
tion of it here.*

Centronyx Bairdii, Baird. — Baird'; Sfi-jrrmv.
(See Frontispiece.t)

Embcriza Bairdii. Aui), nirds Americi, VII, 1843 ; PI. 500.
Coturniculus Ilairdii. Bon. S>n. 1850, 481.
Centronyx Bairdii. Baird, Birds N. Am. 185S, 441.

Sp. Ch. Back grayish ; the middle of the feathers having a black centre edged

with rufous. Top of head streaked with dusky and pale rufous, divided by a broad
stripe of pale yellowish white. There is also a whitish superciliary stripe extend-
ing from the base of the bill to the back of the head. Ear-coverts grayish, with a
rufous tinge. Quills brownish, edged with white on the outer web; .scapularies,
secondaries, and wing-coverts brownish black, edged broadly with rufous, brightest
on the secondaries ; scapularies also edged narrowly with white ; the ends of both
rows of wing-coverts narrowly tipped with white, forming two rather indistinct bars
across the wings. Tail brownish, with the tips of the feathers and terminal half of
the outer web of the outer tail-.'eathers pale yellowish white: the rest of the tail-
feathers narrowly edged with the same. Under parts, including under tail-coverts,
pure white. Feathers of the sides of the throat, with a broad band across the
breast and sides, streaked with rufous, with dusky centres. The throat is indis-
tinctly spotted with dusky. A triangular spot on the sides of the neck, below the
ear-coverts, pale buff; ears dusky. Bill dark brown, with base of the under
mandible paler. Eyes and feet brown.

Differs from Poitcetcs graminens, which in general form it resembles, in having a
central stripe on the head, and a general rufous appearance, also in having longer
tarsi, toes, and claws. With Passerailiis savanna it cannot justly be compared, as it
is much larger, and has a shorter and more obtuse bill. Indeed, so nearly does it
resemble the P. gramineiis, that amateur ornithologists to whom I have shown it have
unhesitatingly pronounced it to be that species.

•"It differs in color just as clear autumn.il birds differ fiom worn breeding ones, — tints paler,
markings more suffused, etc. Tlie stripe along tlie top of liead is paler, not as fulvous as in the
type; but in all essential points it seems to be the same bird."— Professor S. F. Baird, in Epist.

t The convexity of the upper mandible is somewhat exaggerated in the plate.
4

a6 MEMOIRS OF 'line NUTTAI.L ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

I give the comparative measurements of the two specimens, remarking that
Professor Batrcl's was ni;\de from the dried skin, wliile mine was taken from the
fresh bird.'

The Ipswich Sand-hills, where the specimen was procured, is a most pecuHar
place. I never have met with its equal anywhere. Years ago these Sand-hills, which
are three miles long liy three fourths of a mile across, and contain about one thousand
acres, were covered with a thick growth of pine-trees. Protected by these trees, and
among them, dwelt a tribe of Indians, whose earlier presence is indicated, not only
by tradition, but by numerous shell heaps scattered over the Sand-hills at irregular
intervals. Indeed, even now the ashes of camp-fires may be seen, apparently fresh.
Upon the advent of the white man, the usual event transpired, namely, the disappear-
ance of the trees ; and today, with the exception of a few scattering ones at the
southeasterly corner, near the house of the proprietor of the Sand-hills, Mr. George
Woodbury, not a tree is to be seen. All is bleak and barren. The surface of the
ground, once covered with a slight deposit of soil, has become a mass of shifting
sands. Many times has the present owner had cause to regret the want of foresight
in his ancestors in removing the trees, as the several acres of arable land around the
house are now covered with sand, including a valuable apple-orchard. Upon this
orchard the sand has drifted to the depth of thirty feet. Some of the trees present
the curious phenomenon of apples growing upon limbs that protrude a few feet only
above the sand, while the trunk and lower branches are buried I The Sand-hills, in
places, are covered with a sparse growth of coarse grass, upon the seeds of which, as
I have remarked elsewhere, thousands of Snow Buntings feed. There are, in some
places, sinks or depressions with the level of the sea. In these sinks, which, except
during the summer months, are filled with fresh water, a more luxuriant growth of
grass appears. Walking, on December 4, 1868, near one of these places, in search
of Lapland Longspurs, I started a Sparrow from out the tall grass, which flew wildly
and alighted again a few rods away. I approached the spot, surprised at seeing a
Sparrow at this late day so far north, especially in so bleak a place. After some
trouble I again started it. It flew wildly as before, when I fired, and was fortunate
enough to secure it. It proved to be Baird's Sparrow. When I found I had taken a
specimen which I had never seen before, — although at that time I did not know its
name or the interest attached to it, — I instantly went in search of more. After a
time I succeeded in starting another. This one, however, rose too far off for
gunshot, and I did not secure it. It flew away to a great distance, when I lost sight
of it. After this I thought that among the myriads of Snow Buntings that continually
rose a short distance from me I again detected it, but I was perhaps mistaken. I am
confident of having seen it in previous years at this place, earlier in the season.
**********

' The comparative measurements (in inches) of the two birds are given as follows by Mr.
Maynard : —

LtHgth ^i^ing Tail BUI above Bill along gafie Tarsus Miiidle toe Hind toe

and claw and clatu

Nebraska bird, 4.64 2.77 2.10 0.49 0.50 0.84 o.gi 0.72

Ma.ssachuselts bird, 6.30 3.25 2.60 0.45 0.52 0.95 1.05 0.72

THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 27

I think it more probable that the birds which occur at Ipswich are winter visitors
from the north, than that they are stragglers from so great a distance as Nebraska.
As might be expected, I heard no song-note at this season, but simply a short chirp
of alarm.'

In 1872 Mr. William Brewster recorded tiie following captures: "Mr.
Maynard also informs me that he took two more specimens of Baird's Sparrow
{Centronyx Utiirdii), October 14th and 1511' [1870], on the Ipswich sand-
hills, thereby confirming the hypothesis advanced by him in the ' Nat-
uralists' Guide,' namely, that they are regular winter visitants from the
North." The capture of these additional specimens led to the discovery by
Mr. Maynard that they were of a new species, and towards the end of the
year 1872, in the 'American Naturalist' for October (p. 637), the original
error was corrected by him, and tlie Ipswich Sparrow was established as a
new species in the following words: —

In December, 1868, I took a Sparrow at Ipswich which was then supposed to be
Centronyx Bairdii. In the autumn of 1870, I took two more of the same species,
also at Ipswich ; but upon visiting the Smithsonian Institution this spring and com-
paring these specimens with the original C. Bairdii, I have come to the conclusion
that they are specifically distinct. They are closely allied to the savanna sparrow
and evidently belong to the same genus ; I therefore propose to name the Massa-
chusetts bird Passerculus princeps, the large barren ground sparrow. The Centronyx
Bairdii should also, I think, be referred to the genus Passerculus, for I can see no
good generic character by which it can be .separated. A description and figure of
this new Passerculus will be found in the 'Naturalists' Guide' (page 112), under
the name of Centronyx Bairdii, with a history of the capture of the first specimen and
also an account of how this name came to be applied to it. It will likewise be
understood that the name of Centronyx Bairdii, given in a notice in the May number
of the Naturalist (page 307) by Mr. Brewster, should read Passerculus princeps.

Dr. Coues in his ' Key,' published in 1872, under ' Centronyx bairdii,''
hinted at " something not now anticipated," and in the appendix recognized
"P. princeps Maynard," saying, "Although perfectly aware of this at
time of writing, I refrained from anticipating publication of the fact."
From this time on, published references to the new species followed iia
rapid succession, and it may be of interest to look at the first records for
the different States and Provinces. Arranged in sequence of publication,
they are as follows : —

' In the second edition, 1877, of the 'Guide,' Mr. Maynard, in the new light thrown upon the species,
modified some of these statements to suit the species to which they really referred, and there is
substituted for the original woodcut a very fair hand-colored plate of the Ipswich Sparrow under its
proper name.

28 MEMOIRS OF TlIK MTTAI.I. OUMTIIOI.OOJCAL CLLD.

Massachusetts. — Ipswich, December 4, 1868. Maynard, Am. Nat. Ill, December,

18(^9. SS4-
Maine.—- Cape Elizabeth, March 20, 1875. Brown, Rod and Gun, VI, May 8, 1875, 81.
New Urunswick.— Toint Lepreaux, April 11, 1876. IJrewster, Bull. Nutt. (Jrnith.

Club, I, July, 1876, 52.
Connecticut. — 'South End,' New Haven, November 4, 1875. Merriam, Bull. Nutt.

Ornith. Club, I, July, 1876, 52.
[.> New Hampshire.— Lake Umbagog, October 9, 1876. Brown, Bull. Nutt. Ornith.

Club, II, January, 1877, .ij.]
New York. — Coney Island, Long Island, December 20, 1876. Bailey, Bull. Nutt.

Ornith. Club, II, July, 1877, 78.
Nova Scotia. — Sable Island, summer of 1884. Merriam, Auk, I, October, 1884, 390.
Delaware.— Rehoboth Beach, November 22, 1884. Dwight.Auk, II, January, 1885, 105.
Rhode Island.— Point Judith, November 27, 1884. [Jencks,] Random Notes, II,

March, 1885, 17.
[?Texas. — Dallas, December 10, 1884. Sennett, Auk, III, January, 1886, 135.]
Virginia. — Cobb's Island, "common in winter." Rives, Proc. Newport Nat. Hist.

Soc, 1889-90, 73.
Georgia.— ' Jack's Bank,' Glynn County, January 8, 1890. VVorthington, Auk, VII,

April, 1890, 211.

Two of these records are open to such grave doubt that it is vvortli our
while to examine the evidence on which they rest. The first is the one for
New Hampshire by Mr. Brown who writes: "On the 9th of October,
1876, I met with one of these birds on a sandy point on the northwest shore
of Lake Umbagog, in New Hampshire. I should hesitate' to record the
occurrence of this species in a locahty so far removed from its known
haunts, it not having been before observed so far in the interior, since, from
the miss-fire of two cartridges in succession I failed to capture my bird,
were I not perfectly acquainted with its almost unmistakable habits."
Unfortunately, its habits do tioi distinguish it from the Savanna Sparrow,
which under certain conditions of light might easily be confounded with it.
Besides, it confines itself so exclusively to the seacoast that its appearance
so far inland under any circumstances would be highly exceptional. It is
safer, therefore, to apply rigidly the too often slighted rule that the capture
of a specimen, especially where there is room for doubt, shall be the
accepted evidence of its occurrence, and thus exclude the sole record for
the State.

The species has been recorded as a bird of Texas by Mr. Sennett, as
follows: "I have in my collection an adult male Ammodramtis friuce-ps
taken at Dallas, Texas, Dec. 10, 1884. I obtained it from Mr. Fred. T.
Jencks of Providence, who writes me in regard to it as follows : ' The

TilE IPSWICH SPARROW. 29

Ipswich Sparrow was purchased from tlie collector, Mr. Clothrie [it should
be Clothier] Pierce, for a Western Grass Finch, and it was so labelled
until the da}- I picked out your series of Sparrows, when I detected its true
identity.' This largely extends the habitat of this comparatively new species,
heretofore only recognized on the sand lulls of the Atlantic Coast." A
couple of years later this record was challe.iged in Cooke's ' Hird Migration
in the Mississippi Valley' (p. i8d), wh<'ie it is stated "there is reason to
suspect that the specimen really came tVom the coast of New Englaiui, the
error having arisen from a transposition of labels." I have carefully
examined the specimen, and investigated its history as far as possible. It
is apparently a female frinccps, judging by size (not a male as the label
indicates), although it certainly resembles quite closely one or two extremely
pale male specimens of the Western Savanna Sparrow occurring among
some two hundred examined. Now, Mr. Pierce's labels were ordinary
tags, and they were notoriously loosely tied. Many came oil' entirely, and
his lot of birds from Texas is said to have lain in tlie dr ,c.'s of one New
England dealer before it passed into the hands of another from whom
Mr. Sennett obtained the specimen. Dealers are fallible, even with the
best of intentions. A loose Texas label accidentally attached to an
unlabelled Ipswich Sparrow, of which there were said to have been a
number in near proximity, is a far more plausible explanation than
to assume that an Ipswich Sparrow was found two hundred ant', fifty
miles from the seacoast and over one thousand from the nearest, and
most southern, point from which it has ever been recorded. Of course
with wings such an excursion is not impossible, but it is scarcely con-
ceivable that a northern, coast-frequenting species would make such a
trip for pleasure, while a storm theory is hardl}- tenable, because storms
carr}' our birds northward and eastward, not southward and westward.

Resuming again the history of the species at the point where we
digressed, we find Mr. Brewster saying of it in 1876 (Bull. N. O. C,
p. 18) : ". . . the establishment of a fixed fact like that recently developed,
of the regular seasoiuil appearance in considerable numbers of Passcrculus
princcps along our New England coast, cannot fail to prove of the utmost
practical value to the ornithologist, and reflectant o*" great and lasting credit
on the fortunate discoverer." In 1878 Dr. J. A. Allen gave the Ipswich
Sparrow in his list of birds of Massachusetts as a "rare winter visitant,
occurring chiefly near the coast. Has been met with from Prince
Edward's Island and New Hampshire to Long Island." " Prince Edward's
Island" must be a slip of the pen, for the species has never been taken
there. In that year Dr. T. M. Brewer remarked that "the gradual
accumulation of observations in reference to this new and rare species

30 MEMOIRS OF THE NUITALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

point to its re^nilar migratory appearance along the Atlantic coast of
New En.'land in consick-rable numbers." Dr. Coues in the same year
contributed an important paper, containing the bibliography and synonymy
of tiie species to date, as well as that of Baird's Sparrow, with a colored
plate of the latter. The year 1878 also marked the appearance of the
pm-t of Mr. Maynard's quarto work containing a wretclied colored plate
of ' Passcrculus frinccps' and a complete account of the species, m many
respects the best that has ever been published.

In the following year appeared Mr. Jeffries's sketch of the b.rd as
observed at Swampscott, Mass., chiefly during the autumn of 1878. It is
an important contribution, although perhaps a little too dofr,.,atic in some
of its statements wliich are not entirely borne out by the facts. An argu-
ment acrainst the specific distinctness of frinccp from savanna is pre-
sented." Unfortunately, however, the measurements given do not show
proper cognizance of sex in making comparisons, nor is it conclusively
proved that intermediate specimens were found. As a matter of fact the
female p-inccps is of the size of the male savanna, while the male frtnccfs
is considerably larger. In 1881 Mr. Stearns's work on New England
birds, edited by Dr. Coues, was published, in which may be found a good
review of the bird's history.

By 1882, the Ipswich Sparrow began to be considered a common
species in New England, and Mr. N. C. Brown thus wrote of it: "The
once prized Ipswich Sparrow {Passcrculus frirccp) must now take its
place among the common n-^-mniil migrants of southern Maine, though
restricted, so far as I am aware, to the seacoast. In the spring, however,
it is uncommon if not rare. Since the capture of the first Maine specimen
March 20, 1875, I have seen but two other spring specimens. These I
found upon Old Orchard Beach, March 28, 1882, and one of them is now
in my collection. In their autumnal migration the birds reach Cumber-
land County about Oct. 13, remaining at least until Nov. 6, later than
which I have never looked for them. Upon almost any day between
these dates the collector may find a dozen or more individuals along the
sandy shore between Scarborough Beach and the Saco River." (Bull.
N O. C. VII, 190.) In 1883 Mr. M. Chamberlain recorded a flock of
about twenty (a number far exceeding anything ever recorded elsewhere)
seen on April 11, near St. John, N. B. In the same year Mr. H. K.
Job wrote that " Ipswich Sparrows can at last be ranked almost as common
birds upon our seacoast in the late fall. Last year I saw them first on
October 28, in Boston Harbor, and for about a month found more speci-

• See Kod and Gun, Vol. VI, p. 65 [= p. 81]."

THE IPSWICH Sl'ARROW. JS

mens than I could possibly desire to shoot. Tlie main body leaves us late
in November, but stra<,'glers are occasionally tbuiui during the winter."

Tlie following paragraph, published in the July, 1884, number of 'The
Auk' by Mr. R. Ridgway, has been productive of good results: "The
National Museum possesses a considerable series of eggs labelled 'Ptisscr-
cultts savana, Sil)le Island, Nova Scotia, July, 1862; J. P. Dodd,' which
are uniformly so much larger than those of the Savannah Sparrow as to
strongly suggest the probability that they may be in reality those of the
Ipswich Sparrow. At any rate the matter is worth investigating, and it is
hoped that some reader of ' The Auk ' may be able to decide the question."
Dr. C. II. Merriam promptly followed up this clue, and in the October
number of the same journal we read: "Acting upon the above suggestion
I immediately wrote to the Rev. W. A. Des-Brisay, a resident missionary
of Sable Island, requesting him to send me a specimen of the common
' Gray Bird ' of the Island. This he was kind enough to do, and tlie
specimen, in confirmation of Mr. Ridgway's suspicion, proves to be an
unquestionable Ipswich Sparrow." Here the matter rested for the next
ten years, and it is obvious the connection between the eggs and tlie
' Gray Bird ' was not established without leaving a margin of doubt.

Meanwhile 'Passercnlus frinceps' became 'Ammodramus frincefs' \n
1885, was " relegated to the commonplace" on Long Island, N. Y., by Mr.
Dutcher in 1886, and its southern range was extended to Virginia by Dr.
Rives in 1890, and finally to Georgia by Mr. Worlhington in the same year.
Possible breeding grounds have been visited on the sandy portions of the
Magdalen Islands by Mr. Maynard, Mr. Cory and Dr. Bishop ; I have
sought them on Prince Edward Island and the adjacent coasts of New
Brmiswick and Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton Island, which has
also been visited by Messrs. F. II. Allen, F. Bolles, W. Faxon, and
R. IIofTman, but none have been found. Hence it becomes extremely
probable that the Ipswich Sparrow is an island species, confined to
Sable Island, where it has made its home perhaps for centuries.

Distribution and Migration.

The fact, already stated, that the Ipswich Sparrow has not been found
breeding at any favorable locality along the seacoast of Nova Scotia, New-
foundland, or Labrador, nor anywhere on the shores of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence, points pretty conclusively to the probability of Sable Island
being its sole breeding ground. It may therefore be considered a good
example of an island species, probably related at one time to the Savanna

-2 MEMOIRS OF TIIK Nt ITALI. OKMTIJOLOGICAL CLUB.

Sparrow of the mainland by ties tl.at cannot now be traced. During the
miLM-ations it is otti-n associa.od with the Savanna Sparrows, hut unhke
them it is strictly littoral by habit. Hut two instances have come to my
knowledge (disregarding the more than doubtful records from Texas and
New Hampshire), where the bird h .s been captured out ol hearmg of the
surf,-one ten miles inland near New Haven. Conn, by Dr. B.shop
(Auk, VI, 1889, p. 199), and one at Cambridge, Mass., by Mr. Charleg

R. Lamb. . .i • i i„

Their pallid colors arc undoubtedly due to environment, as their whole
life is spent among hillocks of bleached and drifted sand. E^en rom the
most verdure-clad valleys of Sable Island, where they preferably ab.de
durin.r the breeding season, it is but a step into a desert and although
occasronallv found at other seasons along the rocky coasts of the mainland,
it seems probable that the birds only visit such localities as they pass along
in migration. A few brave the winters of their island home, and are often
seen about the stations when the ground is covered with snow, feeding
among the barnyard fowls. They have frequently been observed to all
dead xvhilo flying, and tht- children have attributed their death to the
expansive force of the corn-meal they have eaten I

Mr. Boutilier tells me the ' Gray Birds' begin to diminish in numbers
earlv in September, and it is probable the great majority leave Sable
Islaml late in the autumn, scattering southward along the New England
shores. Here some linger through the winter, b.-t the bulk presses farther
south; and birds have been found, when careful search has been made,
even as far south as Georgia, where two have been taken in January at the
mouth of the Altamaha River. There are no autumn or winter records for
any point north of Portland, Maine, and, it may be added, there are very
few sprin-r records for New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. The birds seem
to winter chieflv south of New York City, and are reported as common at
Cobb's Island, Virginia, but observations at all localities are usually con-
fined to living trips made to the seashore by the enthusiastic collector, and
consequently the distribution and migratory movements of this species are
even now imperfectly understood. They appear to reach Massachusetts
(where probablv the most careful observations have been made) with one of
the early 'cold waves.' pretty regularly from the middle to the last of
October, and Long Island, New York, at very nearly the same time or
perhaps a few days later. For a month or more they may be abundant, and
after that, as a general rule, only stragglers can be found. ^ , ^ ^ .

On their return northward in the spring they reach Long Island during
March, usually the last two weeks or a little earlier if the weather be
mild, and loiterers may be found in the early April days. In Massachusetts

THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 31

they pass northward hite in March and during the first week in April.
Tlicy are said to reappear gradually on Sable Island in the month of May.
Near New York City I have occasionally seen, in March, small restless
parties of five or six, evidently migrants, as well as numerous single birds,
in places where none were to be found at previous visits made in February.
During some winters, however, a good many may be found on Long
Island, as is borne out by my own observations and those of others who have
searched for them ; but in these winters a considerable influx of birds is
usually perceptible just about the middle of March. I have i.iken speci-
mens in every month from October to April, and others have done
the same in Massachusetts; although as a rule mid-winter specimens even
in the latitude of New York City are not always discoverable. November
and March are the months when the greatest number of birds may be con-
fidently expected, and a dozen or more may sometimes be secured in a
single day. Still they are seldom really abundant, and are usually so
scattered over large areas of bleak sand-hills, that each specimen in one's
collection means many a mile trudged through yielding sand that slips from
beneath the feet at every step.

Spring specimens usually show evidences of the spring moult, which is
seldom completed (especially about the head and eye-ring) while the birds
are in New England. The fall moult is accomplished before they return,
and is in progress during August. p'^'J;'n^g from some skins sent me from
Sable Island. While there, I learned that they had perceptibly decreased
in numbers in recent years, and were possibly not more than one tenth
as abundant as they were five years ago. It is probable that their natural
enemies already alluded to are responsible for this decrease. What will be
their fate when their island home shall have been entirely submerged, is a
question for future observers to settle, — it is not likely to be one of our day
and generation.

Habits.

While the birds linger in their winter haunts they arc apt to be shy, hiding
away singly among the thicker tufts and patches of the brown beach-grass
that is so characteristic a feature of the sand-dunes. We all of us know
the stiff, sharp points of this grass in the midst of each tuft, on which we
carelessly place the hand, and we have all of us seen the magic circles traced
in the sand by the tips of the drooping blades as they sway in the breeze.
Here we look for the Sparrows, and perhaps may spy one scampering
away rapidly, head down, in and out among the tussocks. Now and then he
stops to take an observation, standing up very straight as if on tiptoe to get
a better view of you through the slender screen of grass-blades. He seldom

34

MEMOtRS OK TIIK Nl'TTALK ORNITIIOLfXJICAL CLUB.

ullowH a near approacli, and pmsently takes winjj, somt'limos with a
siiijjli! cliirp, otU'iRT living silciilly aiul rapidly Iniifj distanci-s before
droppinji to tlic jjioiind. TIil- moiir actively they are pursued, the wilder
they become and tlie further they will fly each time they are flushed, and
the fa ler they seem lo run from tlie spot where the lireatldess collector
expects to lind them, 'i'hey often permit you to come within a few yards
of them when lirst disturbed, and they never sprinj^ from under your
very feet, prolvdily l)ecause they start to run away the moment you are
observed ; but after once llushinf» them it is by no means certain you can
put tiiem u[) a second time;. I iiave sometimes seen them alijjiit on bushes
or trees or fences, but on these rare occasions they iiave generally been
with flocks of S.ivanna iind otlier Sparrows not far from treeless wastes
of gently rolling sand-hills. Sometimes they are fcjund on salt marshes,
but they seem much to prefer dry, open sand-hillocks well covered with
grass, or the depressions among them.

On Sable Island, as might be expected, Ihey were comparativel}' tame,
although even there not permitting a very close inspection. They watch
you, especially when singing from tlie tops of the sand-hills or the bushes,
with evident suspicion, and as there is no cover the}' are not easily stalked.
When you approach, they become restless, repeatedly crouching down as
if about to lly, bobbing up again, and, iinall}', eitiier slipping ipiietly down
the opposite side of the sand-hill, or more frequently standing their grountl
until you are within a few yards. Meanwhile their uncertainty ol mind is
voiced by occasional sharp chirps, and presently they suddenly depart with
brisk, undulating flight, following the ineciualities of the ground until
hidden by a distant hill. If pursued from place to place, they soon
become very wary and will lly until tiiey are nearly out of sight before
alighting.

When undisturbed in search of food, they walk jauntily about on the
ground or over the shiny green carpet of Crowberry, the head nodding like
a pigeon's, the tail raised at a slight angle with tlie back. They indulge
in sundry little hops and flirtings of the wings and tail when they hasten
their steps to overtake some l'!,kless insect, but their every movement is
delih«'rate as compared with the racing gait with which we associate
them when on our own seashore. They most frequented the vicinity of
the ponds, and abounded towards the eastern end of the island where the
hills and valleys are most extensively clothed with the Crowberry and the
Juniper, in the many snug nooks and pockets of which they hide away
their cosey nests or lind refuge at night from the penetrating, fog-laden air.
When .«^een against this dark green background the birds looked very
pale, while contrasted with the sand over which they ran or flew they

Tin: irswjcii sparrow. 35

appeared obviously darker. Tin; fact tliat I !<i'l(l<>m loiiiul tlu-in on ihf
half-naked sand-liill.s iniglit ar^rtie a^rainst their pallid colors, hut \vu
must remember that most of them spend only u small part of their lives
amid the oases of Sable Island.

It was impossible to pry much into their domestic affairs, they were so
relirinjj. All seemed to be mated at the time of my arrival, and they
appeared to take life very (puetly. The demeanor of the males, when
paying court to their admirin}^ mates, was larfrely a parade of bowings
and llutlerinjjs, accomp.mied by a low murmurinj^ chirrupinjf. Only
once did I actually catch the males quarrelling amonj; themselv -s ; but
towards the end of my stay I secured several with heads so tienu led of
fialhers tliat it was evidently not a ipieslion of wlietlier they had bi'cn
tightiu};, but of how much. Very little solicitude was displayed in regard
to tJR'ir nests. Tiie males seem to give notice of a stranger's approach.
Your attention is perhaps attracted by mild and deliberate ti:hij>!i that
proceed from a bird sitting most stolidly on a clump of pigmy rose-bushes,
and presently he is mysteriously joined by his mate. Both will continue
to ex|iostuiate at irregular intervals, seldom shifting their positions, though
nervously turning this way and that as long as you remain in the vicinity,
and they are very polite about it all and never attempt to heap upon yr)u
such torrents of abuse as you often receive at the hands of other species.
It is most difficult to detect the females leaving the neat, unless incubation
is considerably advanced, but at this period they sit very closely and,
only when nearly trodden upon, will they tlulter away, leigning injury.

Song.

I well remember the first mornmg on the island. The sun was feebly
struggli'ig with the drifting fog that dimly revealed the treeless, ragged
sand-hiliotks stretching away into the distance; the air was chill, and all
about me were strange sights and sounds. Amid the chorus of unfamiliar
notes I soon detected those for which I had travelled far, and spied an
Ipswich Sparrow singing away on an adjacent sand-peak, (piite unconscious
of the sensation he was creating. Probably none of the songsters afterwards
heard impressed me as did this one, for the song was one of the many
novelties I enjoyed on Sable Island. I was prepared to hear a song on the
same pattern as that of the Savanna Sparrow — nor was I disappointed. It
was gratifying to know that ilie bird really could sing, for it is one of
the most silent of our winter visitors, its sole note being a sharp, dry ix'q)
uttcicd on rare occasions. Both sexes make use of this note on Sable

36 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

Island, only far more frequently. It is an everyday salutation there, as
much as to say, " Here I am, what do you want, eh?" It is pitched a little
lower and modified to a /c/tiy*, when the hirds are anxious about their nesls,
and when the males are quarrelling, or paying court to the females, it
degenerates into a rolling chatter. None of ihese notes are loud, and the
full song is not much to be proud of, musically considered ; and yet, com-
pared with that of the Savanna Sparrow, it is a more polislied and tuneful
effort. Those who know the song of this bird may gain some idea of that
of the Ipswich Sparrow when I say that the song oi priiiccps is keyed a little
lower and finished up with more - f a trill. Analyzed, it consists of three
parts, and usually occupies a short two seconds in its delivery. It begins
with two or three rapid, introductory notes, thin, high-pitched, and slightly
sibilant, occupying perhaps one quarter of the entire time ; these are
followed quickly by a prolonged, still more sibilant, grasshopper-like lisp,
that consumes five eighths more of the time, and the song concludes, witii-
out pause, in a trill (keyed very like the note of the little tree-toad, Hyla
fickcringii), on the first part of which considerable emphasis is placed,-
the end fading out with interrogative inflection. Even in calm weather,
the song is quite inaudible at a couple of hundred yards, but the trill, brief
as it is, is heard further than any other part, and may be the only sound
distinguishable. As you draw nearer, the sibilant portion is heard, while
the introductory notes may not be audible until you arrive within a very
few yards. A graphical representatio, . of the song would be something as
follows, the spaces between the vertical lines representing roughly quarters
of a second : ts'ip- \ tslp- | fs | c'- \ c- \ e- \ e- \ pr-re'-e-uh. The finishing
trill is usually swung out with a vi'.i, unlike the weaker, higher-pitched
tinkle of A. s savanna, and contrasts pleasantly with the thin, high notes
and lisp that precede it. It is in this part of the song that individual singers
vary most, differing in quality, force and length of tone not only from
their neighbors' efforts, but sometimes from their own. On the whole,
there are few variations. Sometimes the number of introductory notes is
increased or diminished, and sometimes the trill is little more than a musi-
cal ripple and like an overflow of the sibilant note. This sad little chant
is repeated several times in the minute, but rarely for more than a few
minutes at a time, when the singer either seeks a new perch or devotes him-
self for an indefinite period to the quest for food. They sing at irregular inter-
vals, the favorite hour being at dusk, when you may often hear round about
you as many as five or si:-:, each pouring forth his mournful trill which seems
in perfect keeping with the sombre surroundings. They are also more
musically inclined in the early morning hours. They sang regardless of the
fog, to which they are so well accustomed, nor did they, as is the wont

TIIK IPSWICH Sl'ARROW. 37

of many birds, greet tlie sun as it now and again pushed aside tlie fog
curtains with its long yellow rays. Bright days did not inspirit them, nor
did dull ones depress them.

The fn-st place to look for a musician is along the sky line of a neigh-
boring sand-hill, where he often may be descried, perched a few inches from
the ground on a tuft of grass, sometimes on the bare sand. He may choose,
however, a tiny thicket, a turfy hillock, the telephone wires or poles, or a
fence, from which vantage point a single trill may be all that is vouchsafed,
or the song may be repeated a few times. Wrapped in my coat, I have
plodded along, so shut in by the cold sheets of streaming fog that I could only
liken my surroundings to the sand-iiills of our own coast during a winter's
snowstorm, and have listened in vain for .some sign of the presence of the
Sparrows that I felt sure were in my vicinity. Presently one is discovered
walking about on the ground in search of food, and a few minutes later he
mounts a brown hummock, throws back his head, and breaks into song.
Others, far and near, promptly join in chorus, and for several minutes the
air fairly rings with answering songs. Tlien ensues a period of such
perfect silence, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes, tha* it is hard to believe there
is a single bird within earshot. If, however, you will have patience, the
chorus will very possibly begin again.

Nest and Eggs.

No nest of the Ipswich Sparrow had hitherto been secured, and the
identification of the supposed eggs from Sable Island in the National
Museum (see Auk, I, 1884, 292 and 39a) had rested on presumptive
probability rather than on satisfactory evidence. With these facts in mind,
I devoted much time to the search for nests on Sable Island, and had the
pleasure of examining nine or ten, from which five complete sets of eggs
were obtained. The other nests were cither abandoned, or only partly
constructed when I left. On my arrival I was told that the ' Gray Birds '
usually began to lay in June. It soon became evident that some were
already incubating, and in view of the past season being considered a
backward one it is probable that in average seasons many of the sets are
completed by the last week in May. On June 2, after several days'
diligent search, I found the first nest ; and had I not been spying into all
sorts of likely and unlikely places I should never have looked in upon the
three fresh eggs it contained. As I afterwards learned, it was in an
unusual situation, being placed in a small tuft of beach-grass {Ammofhila
arenaria (L.)), one of several bordering an expanse of soft, muddy bog at

38 MEMOIRS OK TlIK NUrrALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

the foot of a turf-coverccl hillock, brown and bare. For several days I
visited the nest repeatedly, approaching under cover of the hillock with
the utmost care, only to fnul that the bird somehow slipped away unob-
served, leaving the eggs warm behind her. By June 4 two more eggs
had been added, and on June 8 I finally secured the bird and set, as well
as an indifTerent Kodak photograph of the nest in situ.

I found another nest on June 2. It was just completed, and was
placed on a slope where a cattle path had left a projecting edge of sod.
There was almost noliiing to conceal tiie nest, and it is possible its con-
spicuousness caused its abandonment before any eggs were laid. Another,
found by Mr. Mackay eight miles down tlie island, at ' No 3,' was reported
the same day, and contained four eggs. These I took on June 4, obtaining
a Kodak picture of them as they lay in the nest, which occupied an
unusual site. It was in a little hollow made by the wind, beneath a
short bit of board that lay on a flat stretch of bare sod scantily covering
the sand beneath. The bird was flushed, although she tried to skulk
away where there was not concealment even for a mouse. Later in the
day I reached the eastern lighthouse, near which I was shown two other
nests, with four eggs eacii, by the members of Mr. Tobin's family. One
was embedded in a bank of Crowberry near a small pond, the other in a
clump of rosebushes. The last set I obtained was on June 11, when I
almost trod upon the bird as, slipping from the nest, she fluttered away
along the ground. It was in a tiny clump of budding bushes and grass, and
contained five eggs, probably two thirds incubated. Shortly before my
departure I found tlie beg, xnings of several other nests, marked by the
characteristic little cups made in the sand by the birds, in some of which a few
grass-blades had been deposited. One was in the midst of a prairie of Juni-
per, a few straws straggling from beneath an upraised spray attracting my
attention to the nest in the depths behnv. All the nests seem to be carefully
concealed, and there is so much ground over which they may be scattered that
it is no easy matter to secure them. I am told that the more favored
nesting sites are steep, grassy slopes, terraced often by zigzagging cattle
paths, where ample protection is afforded behind the lattice-work of
bleached and storm-matted grasses. Everywhere the trailing stems of the
Crowberry and Juniper lend a canopy for nests that sometimes repose in
beds of mosses and lichens, or the edge of some dense little clump of
bushes is chosen.

No matter where situated, each nest is placed in a cup-shaped hollow
about four inches in diameter and fully two in depth, scratched in the sand
by the birds. It is compactly woven, and well calculated to keep out the
icy atmosphere that so often prevails on Sable Island even on midsummer

THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 39

days It is a mach more pretentious affair than that c( the Savanna
Snarrosv, and has the efTect of a nest built of :-.ay and stubble, lined with
paler, finer straw. There are two disdnct parts, an outer shell of coarse
materials that are disposed like a rim, and a.i inner cup of closely woven,
slender grasses. The little basin first excavated by the bu'ds is filled in at
the sides and around the margin with dead weed stalks, various coarse
grasses and sedges, bits of moss, or similar materials. Those form a shell
rising about an inch above the surface of the sand and straggling out over
it for an inch or two. The shell is lined almost wliolly with the finer
bleached blades of an unidentifiable species of Cairx, a few wiry horse-
hairs, or tufts from the shaggy ponies or cattle, being sometimes added.
The lining is circularly disposed, and smoothed down as only a bird can
do it, leaving between the eggs and the sand beneath an inch, more or
less, of closely woven grass, while higher up the walls are considerably
thicker on account of the added outer shell.

Until it was proved that no Savanna Sparrow bred on Sable Island, the
•Gray Birds' ' eggs collected in 1862 (before the species was discovered),
and now in the National Museum, were open to doubt. I have in my
possession a set of savanna that is absolutely indistinguishable in every
particular from one of the sets of pniiccp now before me. To misuse a
term, I might say that the eggs intergrade ; and we should naturally
expect northern-breeding savanna to lay even larger eggs than those of
this set. However, I now have before me five authentic sets of
Ammodramus princess, two with five eggs, and three with four, making
twenty-two eggs in all, from which I derive the following measurements :—
Average size, 21.6 mm. (.85 in.) X 15.5 mm. (.61 in.).
Extremes of 'ength, 23.1 mm. (.91 in.) to 20.3 mm. (.80 in.).
Extremes of diameter, 15.7 mm. (.62 in.) to 15.2 mm. (.60 in.).
They average a little larger than the eggs of A. s. savanna, from which
they are otherwise indistinguishable, and they resemble the eggs of several
other Sparrows. The ground color is bluish or grayish white, often so
washed with brown as to appear olive brown, and usually so splashed and
sprinkled with diflerent shades of umber and vandyke brown as almost to
conceal the color of the shell. Tiiere are also purp'ish and grayish brown
markings that are less apparent on most of the eggs than are the bolder
blotches of the deeper browns that in the majority of cases aggregate about
the larger end and form there a ring. A good many of the eggs have besides
a few irregular hair lines (as if done with a pen) of deep brown. The eggs
of the same set will vary much in coloration, and several very brown and
slishtly spotted eggs may be associated with a bluish blotched egg that
looks as if it belonged to some other set. The shape is usually ovate, but
in one set the eggs are long and slender.

40 MEMOIRS OP' THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

The nests are often found by the people on Sable Island, and they tell
me four is the usual number of eggs in a set, although sometimes five are
laid. The data and measurements of the nests and eggs I secured are as
follows : —

Nest A. — Salile Island, N. S., June 4, 1894.

Bg-gs—foin, nearly fresh, 21.6 x 15.2, 21.8 x i5-7. 21.0 X 15.2,21.8

X 15.5 mm.

_/Vi-s/ _ outside depth 89; outside diameter 127 ; inside depth 46; inside

diameter 57 mm.

Materials — coarse weather-stained grasses and a little eel-grass; lined
with the bleached and delicate blades of a sedge (Carcx).

^//c — beneath a bit of board on a flat stretch of turf, on shore of salt-
water lagoon. The turf was sandy, and the grass very short.

Nest B. — Sable Island, N. S., June 4, 1894.

^^^_four, slightly incubated, 21.3 x 15.2, 21.0 X 15.2, 20.6 x iS-2,
21.8 X 15.8.

7V^<;5/ _ outside depth 57 ; outside diameter 121 ; inside depth 41 ; inside

diameter 57.

Materials — codirse grass, weed stems, and a little green moss; lined
with the pale slender blades of a sedge.

Site — in the midst of a clump of Crowberry on a slope near a fresh-
water pond.

Nest C. —Sable Island, N. S., June 4, 1894.

^j^^j _ four, slightly incubated, 21.6 x 15.8, 21.8 x 15.5, 22.3 x 15.8,

ao.6 X 15.5.

iVw/ — outside depth 76; outside diameter 121 ; inside depth 45 ; inside

diameter 57.

Materials — coarse beach-grass, other dark, weather-stained grasses,
stalks of everlasting and other weeds, and bits of green moss ; lined with
fine, bleached sedge, a few horse-hairs, and bunches of a softer hair, prob-
ably from cattle.

Site — in a thicket of rose bushes on d , hummocky ground.

Nest D.— Sable Island, N. S., June 8, 1894.

Bggs — five, slightly incubated, 23.1 x 15.2, 22.9 x 15.2, 22.6 X 15.2,
23.1 X 15.5, 22.9 X 15.2.

THE IPSWTCII SPARROW. 4I

iVirs/ — outside depth 76; outside diameter 114; inside depth 51 ; inside

diameter 51. , • .

Materials — dead grass and weed stems and a little green moss ; hned with

fine sedge and a few horse-hairs.

Site — in tuft of dead beach-grass on the boggy margin of a small pond.
The grass arched over it.

Nest E.— Sable Island, N. S., June 11, 1894.

^^j5-5 — five, much incubated, 20.6 x 15.8, 20.6 X 15.2, 20.3 x 15.5,
20.6 x'iS-8, 20.8 X 15.8. .

iVi;.s/— outside depth 64; oatside diameter 102 ; inside depth 45 ; inside

diameter 64. ^ , , r

Materials — AcaA weed stalks ; lined with fine blades of sedge and a few

horse-hairs. . , -u 1 j

Site — in hummock of blueberry bushes and rose bushes mixed witli dead

grass and growing sorrel.

Nest F.— Sable Island, N. S., June 11, 1894.

Nest (deserted) —outside depth 70; outside diameter 102 ; inside depth
45 ; inside diameter 64.

Materials— cos^rse, dead grasses and weed stems ; lined with fine blades
of a sedge and some bits of soft hair.

6"//^ —under edge of sod, on a sloping bank.

Food.

I am indebted to the Department of Agriculture for the results of the
examination of the contents of fifty-six stomachs, all, save thirteen, of my
own collecting. A summary of this material is as follows : —

Animal Vegetable Gravel, etc.
matter, % matter, % {chiefly sand), %
19 summer specimens from Sable Isl.ind, N. S., 75.5 15-2 9-3

37 winter specimens from Long Island, N. Y.,

and New Jersey, 7-3 S7-8 34-9

The large percentage of animal matter (insects chiefly) in the summer
food of the Ipswich Sparrow is in striking contrast to the winter deficiency.
Twenty-four of the winter specimens contained no animal matter at all, or

42 MEMOIRS OK TIIK NUTTAKL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

only a trace, and the increase of gravel and sand in the winter food is no
doubt necessary in grinding up the largely increased percentage of seeds.

Mr. F. E. L. Heal of the Department has identified, among the
various fragments found in the stomachs of the summer specimens
from Sal)le Island, the following : Beetles and their larva;, represented by
scarabicids {Afhodmsfmcntarius identified), carabids, elaterids, cicindelids,
and weevils ; caterpillars, as well as puprc and pupa-cases ; grasshoppers ; ants
(including one pupa), and other iiymenoptera ; hemiptera ; diptera ; spiders
(also eggs and coccons) ; snails; seeds, herbage, and rubbish, unrecogniz-
able, except seeds or granules o( Myrica ceri/cra, Coriitis cauadftisis, Rumex
acctosclla, and Vacciiiium sp.? ; bits of shell and shells of bivalve molluscs
probably swallowed with tlu- sand and gravel.

The winter diet appears to consist largely of the seeds and hulls of an
unrecognizable grass, together with several other unknown seeds, as well
as C/tci/of(>(l/u>n Kp.?, Brag-rosi/s sp.?, Polygonum articulatum and rye.
Tiie animal food in winter consists of beetles, among them scarabieids
(represented hy A fhodius inqtiinalus and A/>/ioJius _^mcniarius {prohab\y)),
andweeviU; caterpillars and their cocoons ; hymenoptera (including some
ants) ; diptera ; spiders' cocoons ; snails. The rest of the stomach contents in
winter is made up of the usual sand and gravel which sometimes is mingled
with cinders or slag and bits of coal.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

i8i;8. Gii.i'iN, John liERNARO. Sable Island: its Past History, rresenl Appearance,
Natural History, &c., &c., a lecture, by J. licrnard C.ilpin, H. A., M. !).,
M. R. C.S. Also, a Description of the Shipwreck of the American
Schooner Arno, lost on the Island September 19, 1846. By Joseph
Darby, V.sq., Superintendent of the Island. And a I'oem on the same
Subject, by the Honorable Joseph Howe, M. P. P. All Delivered before
the Athenamm Society, February, 1858. Halifax: Printed at the Wes-
leyan Conference Steam Press, 1858. iimo. pamph., p. 17.

lliirdly citable, but of interest as probably containing tlie first puljlishud reference to
the Ipswicli Sparrow, allhough the species was not recognized as a new one until many
years later. The reference reads as follows : "A little brown Sparrow, ( Kringilla ),

also summered and wintered there."

1869. Maynard, Charles Johnson. The Capture of the Centronyx Bairdii at
Ipswich. — Amer. Nat. Ill, p. SSI-

The single specimen taken December 4, 1868, and here recorded, was later recognized
• • • ■ ' ' " ■■■ ' of Ammoitiamus f^riiueps. Cf.

as belonging to a new species, and became the type
Coues, 3d instal. bibliog., Hull. U. S. Surv. Terr. V, if

879, no. .), p. 637, 1880.

1869-70. Allen, Joel Asaph. Notes on some of the Rarer Birds of Massachu-
setts.—Amer. Nat. Ill, pp. 513, 631, 632.

Also, 1869, pamphlet, repat^'Kl, pp. 9. 3^-34- A more extended notice than Mi.
Maynard's upon the capture of the supposed Centronyx bairdii.

1870. Maynaud, Charles Johnson. The Naturalist's Guide in collecting and pre-
serving objects of natural history, with a complete catalogue of the liiids
of Eastern Massachusetts. By C. J. Maynard. With illustrations by
E. L. Weeks. Boston: Fields, O.sgood, & Co. 1870. lamo. Part II.
Catalogue of the Birds of Eastern Massachusetts with notes relative to
their migration, habits, etc., etc. pp. 1 12-1 17.

An original description with a frontispiece of the type specimen of AmmoJnimiis
priiuef's, the discoverer, however, supposing he was redescribing Cailroiiyx bairdii.

- . There is also a pen-picture of the Ipswich sand-hills and an account of the capture of

the Sparrow. .

1877, revised edition, pp. 1 12-117. The original article is rewritten in part, explana-
tions are made, a hand-colored plate, facing p. 89, is substituted foi- the \ oodcut, and
the species is correctly named.

1870. Samuels, Edward Aur.usrus. The Birds of New England and Adjacent
States : containing Descriptions of the Birds of New England, and adjoining
States and Provinces, arranged by a long-approved Classitkation and
Nomenclature; together with a History of their Habits, Times of Ar-
rival and Departure, their Distribution, Food, Son(^. Time of Breeding,
.: and a careful and accurate Description of their Nests and Eggs; with
Illustrations of many Species of the Birds, and accurate Figures of
their Eggs. By Edward A. Samuels, Curator of Zoology in the Massa-

44 MEMOIRS Ol- TlIK NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

chusctts State Cabinet. With an Appendix containing supplementary
Notes. Fifth Kdition, revised and enlarged, lioston; Noyes, Holmes
and Company, 117 Washington Street. 1870. 8vo. p. 581.

Tilt; lirsi edition of this hydr.i huaik-d woik that contains an appendix, in which under
'Centronyx lUiirJii' appears mention of the cai)ture of Mr. Maynard's buppo.sed .speci-
men. .\ relilled edition, as late as l88j, dues not revise the record !

1872. Kkkwstkr, William. Birds New to Massachusetts Fauna. — Amcr. Nat.

VI. p- 307- , , ,. ,

Records capture by Mr. Maynard, at Ip.swich, of a second .and a third specimen of
the supposed Ccnironyx lUiirJii.

187- CouES, Elliott. Key to North American Birds containing a concise
account of every species of Living and Fossil Bird at present known
from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary.
Illustrated by 6 steel plates, and upwards of 250 woodcuts. By Elliott
Coues, Assistant Surgeon United St.-.tes Army. Salem: Naturali.sts
Agency. New York ; Dodd and Mead. Boston : Estes and Lauriat.
1872. Imp. 8vo. pp. 135 and 352.
In the appendix due credit is given Mr. Maynard for the newly recognized Passercu-

Ills priiuchs. 1 1 00 J ..1

1S84, 2d edition, an extended description at pp. 361, 362; the 3d ed., 1887, and 4th
cd., 1890, are jirinted from tlie same plates, and appendices are added.

1872. Maynard, Charles Johnson. A New Species of Passerculus from Eastern

Massachusetts.— Amer. Nat. VI, pp. 637, 638.

'llie three known specimens are at last recognized as belonging to a new species
which is named /■,u.OTr«/«J/W«a/J. Cf. Zoologic.-il Record for 1872, p. 51, 1874, and
Cones, 3d instal. bibliog., Hull. U. S. Surv. Terr. 1879, V, no. 4, p. 638, 1880.

1873. CoUES, Elliott. Notes on Two little-known Birds of the United States.

— Amer. Nat. v'll, p. 696.

The birds are Centroiiyx bairJii and Aiithiis spmgnci, with references to the supposed
Massachusetts specimens of the former species.

1873. CouEs, Elliott. A Check-List of North American Birds. By Elliott Coues

Salem: Naturalists' Agency. 1873. 8vo. pamph., p. 31.

Also issued as the second part of ' Field Ornithology,' etc., 1874, q. v. We find here
the name 'Maynard's .Sp.irrow.' ,. u

1S82, 2d edition, is far more pretentious, and ' Ipswich Savanna Sparrow is the
name bestowed at p. 52.

1874 Baird, Si'ENCER Fullerton, Brewer, Thomas Mavo, and Ridgwav, Rob-
ert. A History of North American Birds by S. F. Baird, T. M. Brewer
and R. Ridgway Land Birds Illustrated by 64 colored plates and 593
woodcuts Volume I. [Vignette] Boston Little, Brown and Company
1874. Sm. 4to. Vol. I, pp. 533 and 540-542, pl- 25. f- 2-

This history is founded on the three known specimens. Twice in the text the name
'/'. mayitardi' is made use of, no doubt inadvertently.

1874. CouEs, Elliott. Field Ornithology. Comprising a Manual of Instruction

for procuring, preparing and preserving Birds, and a Check-List of North
American Birds. By Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A. [Monogram] Salem :
Naturalists' Agency. Boston: Estes & Lauriat. New York: Dodd &
Mead. 1874. 8vo.

At p. 31 of the Check-List, which was originally issued as a separate pamphlet in
1873, q.v.

TIIK ll'SWICIl SPARROW. 45

187 s Hrewkr. Thomas Mayo. CataloRue of the Birds of New Kngland with
brief notes imlicatinj,' the manner and character of their presence ; with a
list of species included in previous catalo};ues believed to have been
wrongly classed as llirds of New Kngland. — I'roc. Host. Soc. Nat. Hist.,

XVII, p. 44t-

Also 1875, pamphk-t, repaged, p. 8. The IpHwlch Sparrow a designated as " migratory,
rare."

1875. Hkown, Nathan CLiiioi<n. Ornithological Notes from I'ortland, Maine.—

Rod and Gun, VI, May 8, p. 81.
First record for Maine.

1876. Brewster, William. On the occurrence of certain Birds in the New Eng-

land States. — Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, I, p. 18.

1876. Brewster, William. The Ipswich Sparrow in New Hrunswick. - Hull. Nut-
tall Ornith. Club, I. p. 52.

First record for Now IJnmswick (I't. I.upruaux). C/. Zoological Record for 1876, p.
49, 1878, and Coues, 3d instal. l.ibliog., lUdl. U. S. Snrv. Terr. 1879. V, no. .(, p. 641, 1880.

1876 Jordan, Davii) Starr. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United
States, incluQ'ng the District east of the Mississippi River, and north
of North Carolina and Tennessee, exclusive of marine species. By
David Starr Jordan, M. S., M. D. Professor of Natural History in
N. W. C. University, and in Indi.ana State Medical College. Chicago:
Jansen, McClurg & Company. 1876, i2mo. p. 84.

1878. 2d edition, p. 84. Changes made do not affect the birds.

1880. 3d edition, p. 84.

1884. 4th edition, p. 84.

1888. Sth edition, p. 286.— Complete revision of this work.

1876. Merkiam, Clinton Hart. Passerculus princeps and Parus hudsonicus in

Connecticut.— Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, I, p. 52.

First record for Connecticut. C/. Zoological Record for 1876, p. 49. "S?**- a'"' <'""™.
Kirds of the Colorado Valley (Hiljliographical Appendi.x), p. 726, 1S78.

1877. Bailev, Harry Balcii. Occurrence of Passerculus princeps in New York.—

Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, II, pp. 78, 79.

First record for New York. C/. Coues, jd instal. bibliog., Dull. U. .S. .Surv. 'l^err.,
1879, V, no. 4, p. 642< '880.

1877. Brown, Nathan CLiKFORn. Notes on Birds new to the Fauna of Maine,
etc.— Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, II, pp. 27, 28.

A doubtful record for New Hampshire (Lake Umbagog), as the bird unfortunately
could not be secured.

1877. GiEDEL, Christoph Gottfried (Aniireas). Thesaurus Ornithologiie.
Repertorium der gesammlen ornithologischen Literatur und Nomen-
clator siimtlicher Gattungen und Arten der Vogel nebst Synonymen und
geographischer Verbreitung. Von Dr. C. G. Giebel, Professor der Zoo-
logie und Director des zoologischen Museums der Universitiit in Halle.
Dritter Band. [Colophon] Leipzig: V. A. Brockhaus. 1877. 8vo. pp. 38
and 772.

It is stated that rasscrciiliish a syiionym of Zonotrkhia, and that " Passerculus prin-
ceps — Zonotrichia princeps"

aA memoirs ok tiik nuttall ornithologicai. cluh.

1877. Mavnaki), CiiARi.t-s Johnson. The Naturalist's Guide, &c. 2d cd.
Cf. i»l c(l- 1S70.

,877 Mkkkiam, Cmniun Hakt. A Roviuw of the liirds of Connecticut, with
Remarks on their Habits. Trans. Conn. .\cad. Sci. and Arts, IV,
pt. ii, p. 36.

,877 MiNor. Henrv Davis. The I.and Hirds and Oamc-Uirds of New England

with Descriptions of the liirds, their Nests and K-gs, their I al.its and

Notes. With llhistrations. liy II. D. Minot. [(^'li'l'""] •"'•''^''n' '^•^'*^'

Naturalists' Af^ency. Hoston : Kstes & Lauriat. 1877. 8vo. pp. i95-»97-

('hitfly i|iif)lations from Maynard, no new facts are presented.

1878. Ai.i.K.N, Juki, Asaph. A list of the Birds of Massachusetts, with Annota-
tions. — Hull. Kssex Inst., X, p. 16.

,878 IJRK.WK.R, Thomas Mavo. Notes on Certain Species of New Kngland Birds
with additions to his Cataloj^ue of the Birds of New. Kngland. — I'roc.
Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. XIX, p. 305.

1878. Comes, Ki.i.ioTT. Nolc on J'asserai/us tairifH am\ P. pniiceps. — WuW. Nuttall
Ornith. Club, III, pp. 1-3.

Contains synonymy and bibUoi-raphy of bolli spucius, loKethtT with a c.loieil platu
of /'. /«/>,///. cr Ibis, 11, p. "A '«?« ; Zoolo^ischer An/.tiKur, I. p. 355. ''VS ;.. oues
%\ inslal. hibliog. Hull. U. S. Snrv. Turr.. .879. V. no. .,, p. (i,j, .SSo; /oolog.cal
kccordfor 1878, p. 50, 1880; fout-s, Chuck-List, p. iTx), 1882.

,878. Lawrence, NE\vnoi,i> 'I'uoi tek. Notes on Several Rare Birds taken on Long
Island, N. Y. — Forest and Stream, X, May 2, p. 235.

l.ive specimens taken at far Uockaway, December .870 N'-^^^''^^ '«7%.''f ^T"''"'
,872, November, 187.,, and January, 1S78. C/. liailey's Index to \'.k S. Ilird Notes,
p. 1 10, 1881.

,878 Lawrence, Newdoi.i. Tuotiek. The Ipswich Sparrow {r.issemtlus pniiceps)
on Long Island, N. Y. — Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, III, p. 102.

Repetition of the orininal record (see previous title). C/. Coues, jd instal. bibliog.,
Hull. U. S. .Snrv. Terr. 1879, V, no. 4, p. 644, 1880.

1878. Mavnaki), Charles Johnson. The Birds of Florida with the Water and
Game Birds of F.astern North America, by C. J. Maynard. Illustrated.
C. A. Walker, Boston. C. J. Maynard & Co., Newtonville, Mass.
1878. 4to. part iv, pp. loi, 102.

One of the most comiilule accounts of the species ever piddishud. C/. ItuU. Nuttall
Ornith. Club, 111, p. .15. ■>^view by J. A. A [lien], ,878 ; Cues li.rds of the *- o^^^' "
Valley (liibliographical Appendix), p. 693, 1S7S ; .Maynard, 1 ho liuds of Kastern North
America, etc., i88l.

1878. [Smith.sonian report for 1877.]

Among list of donations for 1S77 is one skin of •' Passtrailus princeps" from Massa-
chusetts, from Mr. C. J. Maynard.

1870. Brewer, Thomas Mavo. Some additional notes upon Birds observed in New
Kngland with the names of five species not included in his previous Lists
of New England Birds.— Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. XX, pp. 270, 271.
Chiefly references to Mr. Jeffries's p.aper.

TIIK IPSVVICtI SPARROW. 47

1879. liKowv, Nathan Clifford. IJcachllirils. — Lippincott's Mag. XXIII, May,
622.

Ilricf remarks on, and unrecognizable cut of, ' Paturculut primtfi.'

1870 JKKKRIKS, VVri.i.iAM AirciusTUS. 'I'h.' Ipswich Sparrow {I'iUsercului princeps,
Maynard). — Hull. Nuttall Ornitli. Clul), IV, 103 106.

A vatiiaML' cimlrilmliim tr) the «\il)ji;i:l. coiituiniiiK iil)»erv:iti<m-i ii|>(in .1 \m%k niinil.cr
iif spuoimciis and disciissicii of Ihu lul.iti.Mi of tlic spcdui lo ill.; S.u.iMn,i Sjiarrow. (/.
ZooloKUchcT An/tiKtr, ll,|.. J17. i!*?';: ZoologUdiur Jahre.-I.en, l,i fUr i.S?;;, |.. M 5«,
1880; ZoohiKkal Ruconl for 1S79, p. 54; Couch, .1.1 iiwtal. bibllog,, Hull. U. S. Surv.
Terr. 1879, V, no. 4, p. O45, 1S80.

i88o. Aim.jTT, VVii.i.iAM L. rasserculus princeps in New Jersey. — Forest and
Stream, XIV, Feb. 19, p. 44-

First record for New Jersey (Seven Mile lleach). (/. Hull. Nultall t )rnilh. Club, VI,
p. 49, 1 88 1.

1880. RihfiWAV, RniiKKT. A Catalogue of the Hirds of North America. — Troc.
U. S. Nat. Museum, III, pp. 178, 217.

1880. WooLSEV, Gkorc.k. The Ipswich Sparrow {Passerailiis priiufps) at New

Haven, Conn. — liull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, V, p. 121.
Cf. Zooloj-i-scher Jahrcsburiclu fCr iSSo, IV Abtlicilung, p. 2JI, 1881.

1881. Maynard, Chari.es Johnson. The Birds of Kastern North America; with

original descriptions of all the species whicii occur east of the Mississippi
River, between the Arctic Circle and the Crulf of Me.xico, with full notes
upon their habits, etc., by C ' Maynard; containing thirty-two plates
drawn on stonf> by the autln-i. Revised Edition. Newtonvdle Mass.:
C. J. Maynard cS: Co. 1881. 4to. pp. 101, 102 ; pi. III.
A reissue, in board covers, of the first edition of this work, vi,lt 1878.

1881. Riw.wAY, Rt)iiERT. List of special desiderata among North American Hirds,

— Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, IV, p. 2 1 1.

i88i Scott, William Eari.k Dougk. The Ip.swich Sparrow {/\isserailiis princeps)
at Squam Beach, New Jersey. — Itull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, VI, p. 116.
This place is perhaps better known as Squan lieach.

i88i Stearns, Winfred Alden. New England Bird Life being a Manual of New
England Ornithology revised and edited from the manuscript of VVinfred A.
Stearns Member of the Nuttall Ornithological Club etc. by Dr. Elliott
Coues U. S. A. Member of the Academy etc. Part I. — Oscines Boston
Lee and Shepard PubUshers New York Charles T. Dillingham 1881.
8vo. pp. 235-238.

The history of the Ipswich .Sparrow, carried along into 1879, is here summarized.

1882. Brown, Nathan Clifford. Remarks on Five Maine Birds. Bull. Nuttall

Ornith. Club, VII, p. 190.

1882 Brown Nathan Clifford. A Catalogue of the Birds known to occur in the
vicinity of Portland, Me., especially in the townships of Falmouth, Dcer-
ing, VVestbrook, Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough, briefly annotated, uy
Nathan Clifford Brown. Portland, Me.: William M. Marks, Printer.
,882.— Proc. Portland Soc. Nat. Hist, December 4, 1882, p. 13.

^8 MEMr)IRS OK THE NUTTAI.L ORNMTIIOLOGICAL CLUB.

tllt» Chamberlain, Montacue. A Catalogue of the Birds of New Driinswick,
with brief notes relatiiij; to their mit^ratioiis, hrcecliiig, relative abundance,
etc.- Hull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. it., no. i, p. 38.

Keference to the one bird taken at I't. Lepreaux in 1876 liy Mr. William Brewster.

1882. CoiJKs, Ki.i.iorr. The dmcs Check-List of North American Uirds. Second
Ivliliitn, Revised to Date, and entirely Kewritton, under Direction of the
Author, with a dictionary of the Ktyinoiony, Orlhofjraiihy, and Orthoepy
of the Scientific N.iines, the concordance of previous lists, and a cata-
logue of his ornithological publications. [Monogram] lioston : Estes and
Lauriat. 1882. 8vo. pp. 52 and lOo.
The bird is here called the " Ipswich Savanna Sparrow."

1882. Inokk.soi.l, Krnest. Birds'- Nesting: A Handbook of Instruction in gath-

ering and jircserving the Nests and Kggs of Birds for purposes of study.
By Krnest I ngersoll. Salem : Ceorge A. Bales. 18S2. lamo. p. 93.

The Ipswich Sparruw is muntiunjd among those "birds whose nidification is iin
known."

1883. BKEWSTftR, Wii.i.iAM. Notes on the Birds observed during a summer cruise

i:i the Gulf of St. Lawrence.— I'roc. Host. Soc. Nat. Hist., XXII, 374.

Regrets expre.ssfd that no opportiniity was afforded for exploring the sand-dunes of
the Magdalen Islands in the expectation of flnding the Ipswich Sparrow.

1883. CiiAMiiKKLAiN, MoNTACiiE. New Brunswick Notes. — Bull. Nuttall Ornith.
Club, VIII, p. 8.

A flock of abiint twenty Ipswich Sparrows, iwsociated with Song Sparrows, seen,
April II, on the sand flats near St. John, N. 11. C/. Zoologischer Jahrcsbericht fUr
188 J, IV Abtheihing, p. 277, 1884.

1883. Ciiamherlain, Muntacuk. Ornithological Notes. — Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc.
N. B. no. 2, p. 40.
Duplicates the record just cited.

1883. DuTciiER, William. Ipswich Sp.arrow. — Ornithologist and Oologist, VIII,
p. 48.

Eight specimens taken on Great South Ueach, Long Island, N V. Cf. Auk, II, p. 99,
1885.

1883. Griffino, MosE^ BowniTcii. Ipswich Sparrows. — Ornithologist and Oolo-
gist, VIII, p. 22.

Three specimens taken at Sh'.'itur Island, N. V. Cf. Auk, II, p. 97, 1885.

1883. Jon, Herbert Keiohtley. Notes on some of the Winter Birds of Massa-
chusetts. — Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, VIII, p. 148.

1883. Samuels, Edward Augustus. Our Northern and Eastern Birds 8vo.

p. 581.

Cf. edition of 1870, of which this is a retitled reprint with a supplement, but without
corrections, and a dozen years behind the times.

1883. Smith, Everett. The Birds of Maine. With Annotations of their Com-
parative Abundance, Dates of Migration, Breeding Habits, etc. — P'orest
and Stream, XIX, Jan. n, p. 466.

The Ipswich Sparrow is said to be " not uncommon along the coast in autumn, but
compara<ively rarely seen in spring."

Tin: ii'swicii sPARR )W. 40

1883. W. A. Winter Birds. — Forest anil Strc;im, XX, March 15, p. It4>

An Ipswich Sparrow shut near Itoston, Kcli. i2, 1883.

1884. CoiJEs, KLi.ion. K<7 Id North American ".irils. Containing a concise

account of every speciL's of iivinj; ami fossil l)ir(l at present known
from the Conlineiit north of the Mixican ami United Slates Ixiuiulary,
incUisive of Greenland. Second Kdilion, revised to date and entiiely
rewritten: with which are incorporated (leniral Ornithoiony : .ui out-
line of tiie stnieniro and classifir ition of liirds, and Fii'ld Ornithology:
a Manual of c dectinj;, prepanii}; and preserving hirds. Hy KIK.itt
Coues, M.A., M. D., I'h. I)., Member of the National Academy of Sci-
ence.s.'etc, etc. Profusely illustrated. [Monogram] lloston : listes and
l.auriat, 1884. Large 8vo. pp. 361, 36*.

1884. DuTCiiF.K, VVii.r,iAM. '.ird Notes from Lon^ Isl.ind, N. Y.— Auk, I, p. 31.
Kor original rci:()rcl vit/f iS.Sj, D'llclicr.

1884. Lanc.ii.i.e, J. HiiiiiKRT. Oiir Itirds in their Haunts: a iwpular treatise on
the hirds of Kastern North America. liy Rev. J. llihhert ./anndle,
M.A. [Ver.se]. Moston ; S. K. Cassino & Company. 1884. 12 mo. p. 199.
Urlff mention of tlie Ipswicli Sparrow.

1884. Mekria.m, Ci-intun Hart, lireeding of Passerculus princeps on Sable
Island. — Auk, I, p. 390.

First record for Nova Scotia; a specimen of the hiril ol)laiiie(l iluriiiR the siimincr.
Cf. Zoologisclier An/.eigcr, VIII, p. 229, 18.S5; /..alogical Kucor.i for 1884, p. 47, 1885;
ZoologLscher Jahrusberichl fllr 1884, IV Aljtheilung, p. JiJ, 1886.

1884. RmowAY, RoiiEur. The Probable Breeding-place of Passerculus princeps.—

Auk, I, pp. 292, 293.

Attention is directed to the large size of eggs ''lom Sable Island, N. S., sui)po»ed to
be of A. s. savanna. Cf. Zoological record for 1884, p. 47, 1885 ; Smithsonian report for
1884, pt. II, p. 357. 1885-

1885. Bishop, Louis Bennett. Ipswich Sparrow.— Ornithulogist and (Wlogist, X,

p. 30.
Two specinieas shot, presumably near New Haven.

1885. DuTCiiER, William. Bird Notes from Long Island, N. Y.— Auk, II, pp.
Many specimens in winter at Fire Island Inlet and Shlnnecock Bay.

1885. DwiGHT, Jonathan, Jr. The Ipswich Sparrow {Passerculus princeps) in
Delaware.— Auk, II, p. 105.

First record for Delaware. Cf. ZoologUcher Jahrcsbericht fUr 1885, IV Abtheilnng,
PP- i87> 233. '887.
1885. [JENCKS, Fred T.] The Ipswich Sparrow in Riiode Island.- -Random
Notes on Nat. Hist. II, p. 17.

First record for Rhode Island. Cf. Auk, III, p. 272, 1886.

1885. RiDGWAV, K i<r. Some Emended Names of North American Birds.—
Proc.'u. t. It. Mus. VIII, p. 354-
The name Aminodramiis princeps is adopted.

5°

MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

1885. [Smithsonian report for 1883], pp. 221 and 331.

(lift to the National Museum of twelve specimens in the flesh and one skin of the
Ijjswich Sparrow by Mr. William Uutcher.

1885. [Smithsonian report for 1884], pt. II, p. 145.

Gift of the twelve specimens mentioned in previous report, again recorded.

1886. Allen, Joel Asaph. A Revised List of the Birds of Massachusetts. — Bull.

Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. I, no. 7, p. 251.

liy some slip of the pen it is stated that the Ipswich Sparrow "has bi.;ii met wilh
along the coast from I'rince Edward's Island to Delaware." It has never been taken
on Prince Edward Island.

1SS6. Amf.rican Crnitholooists' Union. The Code of Nomencl.nturo and Check-
List of North American Birds Adopted i)y the American Ornithologists'
Union being the report of the Committee of the Union on Classification
and Nomenclature [Quotation] New York American Ornithologists'
Union 1886. 8vo. p. 265.

AmmOilrainus friiuefs is given, with its habitat " Atlantic coast, from Nova Scotia
south, in winter, to Virginia."

1886. DuTCHER, William. Bird Notes from Long Island. — Auk, III, pp. 441, 442.
An account of A. friiiceps, which is " relegated to the commonplace " on Long Island.

1886. Goodale, Joseph Lincoln. Wintering of the White-throated and Ipswich
Sparrows in Maine. — Auk, III, p. 277.
Two tak.-.n, January 23, between Tine Point and Old Orchard.

1886. Jones, T. [= John] Matthew. Occurrence of the Ipswich Sparrow (/i;«;/w-
dramus prinieps)\n Nova Scotia. — Auk, III, p. 135, 136.

One shot at Laurcncetown, near Halifax, about the end of March, 1878; first record
for the mainland. Cf. Zoologischer Anzeiger, IX, p. 51 1, 1886. .

1886. Sennett, George Burritt. Ipswich Sparrow in Texas. — Auk, III, pp. 135,

136.

The inii>robability of this specimen having really come from Texas has been discussed
in the foregoing pages (pp. 28, 29).

1887. Chamberlain, Montague. A Catalogue of Canadian Birds, with Notes on the

Distribution of the Species. By Montague Chamberlain. Saint John,
N. B. J. cSt A. McMillan, 98 Prince William Street. 1887. 8vo. p. 85.

" This species has been taken in New I'runswick and Prince Edw.ivd Island during
the spring migration, and has been found breeding on Sable Lsland, off the Atlantic
coast of Nova Scotia." As before stated, the species has never been taken on Prince
Edward Island.

1887. K.iDGWAY, Robert. A Manual of North American Birds. By Robert Ridg-

way. Illustrated by 464 outline drawings of the generic characters. Phil-
adelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. 1887. Large 8vo. p. 407.

1888. ChAMnERLAiN, Montague. A Systematic Table of Canadian Birds. By Mon-

tague Chamberlain Saint John, N. B. Published for the Author. i888.
Ro'-al quarto, p. 10.

THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 51

,888 Cooke, Wells WooDBRiDOE. U. S. Department of Agriculture. Division of
Economic Ornithology, liullclin No. 2. Report on Dird Migration in the
Mis.sis.sipni Valley in the years .884 and 1885, by W. VV. Cooke. Kcliled
and revised by Dr. C, Hart Meriiam. Washington: Government Printing
Office. 1888. 8vo. p. J 88.

Doubt expressed regarding the bird recorded from Texas (C/. Seiinett, 1886).

.888 loRDAN David Starr. A Manual of the Vertebrate Animals of the Northern
United States including the district north and east of the Ozark Moun-
tains south of the Laurentian Hills, north of the .southern boundary of
Virginia, and east of the Missouri River inclusive of marine species
by David Starr Jordan President of the University of Indiana Fifth edi-
tion entirely rewritten and much enlarged Chicago A. C. McClurg and
Company. 1888. izmo. p. 286.

,888 Sharpe, Richard Bowdler. Catalogue of the Passeriformes, or Perching
Birds in the Collection of the British Museum. Fringilhformes : Part HI.
Containing the Family FringiUida;. By R. Bowdler Sharpe. London:
Printed by order of the Trustees. 1888. 8vo. pp. 679, 680.— I'orming
Vol. XII of ' Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum.'
Contains synonymy and an elaborate description of tliis species.

1888. ToKKEV, BRAOFORn. A November Chionicle.- Atlantic Monthly LXII, Nov-
ember, 1888, pp. 592-594 ; reprinted (with other sketches) in ' A Rambler s
Lease' (18S9), pp. 131, 132. "33. 136, i37-

,880 American Ornithologists' Union. Check-list of North Arnerican Birds
According to the Canons of Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists
Union Abridged eaition Revised Published by the American Orni-
thologists' Union 1889 8vo. pamphlet, p. 48.

,880 Bishop Louis Bennett. [Specimen taken ten miles from the sea, in Con-
.889. "'^«°;^^i^°" ^,k, VI, p.' .99; also at p. 4 of pamphlet repriiUed tmder

title 'Abstract of the Proceedings of the Linnxan Society of New York

City, for the official year 1888-89.'

,880 BuowN, NATHAN Clifford. Supplementary Notes on Birds of Portland and
Vicinity.— Proc. Port. Soc. Nat. Hist., June 14, 188'^- P- 39-

Published as a supplement to a reissue of the 1882 list, the erratum on p. 37 being
carried forward to p. 40.

,880 Davie, Oliver. Nests and Eggs of North American Birds by Oliver Davie.
Third Edition, Revised and Augmented Introduction by J. Parker
Norris. Illustrations by Theodore Jasper A.M., M.D., and W. Otto Emer-
son Columbus HanncV Adair 1889. 8vo. p. 298.

This is the first edition that contains mention of A.friim-ps, and later ones, to date,
are mere reissues of this.

.880 rSMiTHSONiAN report for 1886.] Part II, p. 740.

Among list of donations to the National Museum are thirty specimens of A. frimifs
from Mr. C. W. Chamberlain, lioston, Mass.

53 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

1889. T [hompson], E[rnest] E. Birds of Nova Scotia. — Auk, VI, p. 64.

A ruview of Mr. Andrew Downs's list of birds of Nova .Scoti.i, justly criticising him
for omitting the Ipswich .Sparrow, " probably without exception the most peculiar and
characteristic of the whole Acadian avifauna."

1889. Tdrrey, Bradford. A Rambler's Lease By Bradford Torrey [Two quota-
tions and colophon] Boston and New York Houghton, Mifflin and Com-
pany The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1889. i6mo. pp. 131, 132, 133,
136. •37-

1889. ToRREV, Bradford. December Out of Doors. — Atlantic Monthly, LXIV,

December, 1889, p. 757; reprinted (with other sketches) in 'The Foot-
path Way," 1892, pp. 53, 54.

1890. DuTCHF.R, William. A Winter Trip to Montauk. — Forest and Stream,

XXXIV, April 3, p. 206.

Several specimens seen on Amagansett Ileach and at Montauk Point, I.ong Island,
N. V.

1890. Maynard, Charles Johnson. Eggs of North American Birds by Chas. J.
Maynard. Illustrated with ten hand-colored plates. Boston : DeWolfe,
Fiske & Co. 1890. 8vo. p. 104.

"Authenticated eggs are unknown, but it is supposed to breed on Sable Island, (lulf of
St. Lawrence." The geography of this statement is a good de-il at fault.

1890. Nelson, Julius. Geological Survey of New Jersey. Final Report of the
State Geologist. Vol. II. Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology. Trenton, N. J.
Printed by the John L. Murphy Publishing Company, 1890. — Descrip-
tive Catalogue of the Vertebrates of New Jersey. (A revision of Dr.
Abbott's Catalogue of 1S68.) Prepared by Julius Nel-son, Ph.D. 8vo.
p. 54»-

1890. RivEs, William Cabell, Jr. A Catalogue of the Birds of the Virginias. —
Proc. Newport Nat. Hist. Soc, Document VMI, 1889 90, p. 73.
First record for Virginl.i, — " common in winter M Cobb's Island."

1890. [Smithsonian report for 1888], pp. 146, 744.

l''onrteen specimens of Aiii»ioifr,iHiiis f'rincf/is obtained by esihange from C. W. Cham-
berlain, l!ost<m, Mass.

1890. WiiRiiiiNr.TON, Wilms WiiDni'oun. The Ipswich Sparrow in Georgia. — Auk,

VII, pp. 211, 212.

Kirst record for (ieorgia. Cf. Abstr. Proc. I.inn. Soc. N. Y., p. 9, iSgo (repetition in
part of original record) ; Zoologisclier .\n/.eigcr, .XllI, p. 673, 1S90; liiewster, Auk, .X,
p. 302, I.Sc)3 (duplicaliou of Mr. Wortliington's record); Hrewster, Auk, .X, ]>. 365, 1893
(explanation of the double record) ; Zoologischer Anzciger, XVI, p. 539, 189).

1891. BoLi.Es, Frank. The Fcpiinoctial on the Ipswich Dimes. — Adantic Monthly,

LXVIII, October, pp. 524-,i;25 ; reprinted with other sketches in 'Land of
the Lingering Snow' (1891), pp. 67, 68.

1891. BoLLEs, Frank. Land of the Lingering Snow Chronicles of a Stroller in
New l'",ngland from January to June By Frank Holies [colophon]
Boston and New York Houghton, Mifflin and Company The Riverside
Press, Cambridge 1891 i6mo. pp. 67, 68, 88.

THE IPSWICH SI'ARROW. 53

1801 Chamberlain, Montague. A Popular Handbook of the Ornithology of the
United States and Canada, liased on Nuttairs Manual, liy Montague
Chamberlain. [Vignette] Vol. I. The Land liirds. Uoston : Little,
Drown, and Company. 1891. 8vo. p. 326.

i8qi Chamderlain, Montague. A Popular Handbook of the Ornithology of
Eastern North America. By Thomas Nuttall. Revised and Annotated
by Montague Chamberlain. [Vignette] Vol. L The Land Birds, iioston ;
Little, Brown, and Company. 1891.

The original two volumes are here ijouiul together In one, the preface is rewritten, and
the work retitled.

1801. Walter, Herbert Eugene. The Birds of Androscoggin County. By Herbert
E. Walter. Notes on the Perching Birds of Androscoggin County, supple-
mented by a Catalogue of Other Species, excluding the shore and water
birds, also identified in the county. 8vo. pamphlet, reprinted from ' His-
tory of Androscoggin County,' p. 25.

Among the species found elsewhere in Maine, but iwt in Androscoggin County.

k8o2. Averill, Charles Kkicuum. List of Birds found in the vicinity of Bridge-
port, Connecticut. Prepared for the Bridgeport Scienlilic Society by
C. K. Averill, Jr. January, 1892, Bridgeiwrt, Conn.: Buckingham &
Brewer, Printers. 1892. i2mo. pamph. p. 14.

1892 Laurent, Philip. Birds of Five Mile Be.xch [New Jersey].— Ornithologist
and Oologist, XVII, p. 88.

1892. Stone, Witmer. Winter Birds of Cape May, New Jersey. — Auk, IX, pp. 203,

ap4. - . ■ _,

189' Torrev, IJRADFoun. The Foot-path Way By Bradford Torrey [Verse and
colophon] Boston and New York Houghton, Mifllin and Conip.iny
The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1892 i6mo. pp. 53, 54.

1893. Allen, Joel Asaph. The Ccographical origin and distribution of North

American Birds considered in relation to I-aunal Areas of North
America.^ Auk, X, p. 126.

A. princeps\% included among the species belonging "distinctively" to the "Cold
Temperate Subregion."

1893 Apgar, Austin Craig. Pocket Key of the Birds of the Northern IFnited
States, east of the Rocky Mountains. By Austin C. Apgar, Author of
'Trees of the Northern United States,' ' Mollusks of the Atlantic Coast,'
&c. Trenton, N. J. The John L. Murphy Pub. Co., Printers. 1893.
181110. p. 28.

1893. Brewster, William. The Ipswich Sparrow {Ammoilntmiis princeps) on the
coast of Georgia. — Auk, X, p. 302.

Duplication of previous record. Cf. 1890, Worthington, //. v. ; Zoologischer Anzeiger,
XVI, p. 539, 1894.

1893. Brewster, Wi'.liam. Two Corrections.— Auk, X, p. 365.

In part explanatory of the double record for (jeorgia, vide i8yo, Wortliington.

54 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

1894. Chapman, Frank Michler. Visitors' Guide to the Local Collection of Birds
in the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. With an
annotated list of the birds known to occur within fifty miles of New
York City. By Frank M. Chapman, Assistant Curator Department of
Mammalogy and Ornithology New York; Printed for the Museum
1894. 8vo. pamph. p. 59.

1894. Stone, Witmer. The Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey with

introductory chapters on Geographical Distribution and Migration pre-
pared under the direction of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club by
Witmer Stone Conservator Ornithological Section Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia Philadelphia Delaware Valley Ornithological
(;iub 1894 8vo. pp. 14, 112, 113.

" Winter resident along the sand-hills of the New Jersey coast, not abundant though
probably regular."

1895. Chapman, Frank Michler. Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America

with Keys to the Species and Descriptions «_' their Plumages, Nests, and
Eggs their Distribution and Migrations and a brief account of their Haunts
and Habits with introductory chapters on the study of Ornithology, how
to identify Birds and how to collect and preserve Birds their Nests and
Eggs By Frank M. Chapman Assistant Curator of the Department of
Mammalogy and Ornithology in the American Museum of Natural History,
New York City; Member of the American Ornithologists' Union, etc.
With full-page plates in colors and black and white and upwards of one
hundred and fifty cuts in the text New York D. Appleton and Company
189s i2mo. pp. 291-292.

1895. MiNOT, Henry Davis. [Edited by William Brewster.] The Land-Birds and
Game-Birds of New England with descriptions of the Birds, their nests
and eggs, their habits and notes with illustrations By H. D. Minot
Second edition Edited by William Brewster [Quotation and vignette]
Boston and New York Houghton, Mifflin and Company The Riverside
Press, Cambridge 1895. 8vo. pp. 201-204.

Cf. original edition 1^77. This second edition contains valuable annotations l)y tlie
editor.

1895. Wright, Mabel Osgood. Birdcraft. A Field Book of two hundred Song
Game and Water Birds by Mabel Osgood Wright Author of "The
Friendship of Nature " With full-page plates containing 128 Birds in the
Natural Colors, and other illustrations New York Macmillan and Co.
and London 1895 All rights reserved Sm. 8vo. p. 146.
Unimportant mention in a popular work.

INDEX.

AcTiTls macularia, i6, 19.

yiigialitis meloda circuniciucta, 16, 17.

semipalniata, 16, 17.
Agroslis alba vulgaris, 12.

Ammodramus princeps, 3, 15, 16, 19-2I1 24,
27-31. , - -

description of, 21, 25.
distribution, 31.
eggs. 3 '.37. 39. ■to. 4'-
food, 41.
habitat, 21.
habits, 33.
history, 24.

measurements, 23, 2O. *

migration, 31.
moult, 33.

nests, 34, 37. 38. 40, 4' •
plumage, 21, 25.
song, 35.
sy.ionyniy, 20.
Ammodramus s. alaudinus, 23, 29.

s. savanna, 23, 28, 30. 31, 34. 35> 3". 39-
Ammophiia arenaria, 9, 12, 33, 37, 40, 4''
AuLts ol)Scura, 16, 19.
Arenaria groenlandica, 14.

peploides, 14.
Ascophyllum nodosum, 14.

Kayberry, 13.

ISeach-grass, 9, 12, 33, 37. 40.4'-

liird. Gray, 3, 31, 32, 37.

liirds of Sable Island, 16.

Blueberry, 13, 41.

Uunchberry, 13.

Bunting, Snow, 26.

Calcarius lapponicus, 26.
Carex, 12, 39, 40.
Cat, 15.
Cattle, 5, 6, 15.

Centronyx bairdii, 3. 20, 24-27, 30.
Chaeturapelagica, 19.
Charadrius torticollis, 17.
Climate of Sable Island, 11.
Clover, Red, 12.

White, 12.
Cornus canadensis, 13, 42.
Cranberry, 13.
Crowberry, 9, 12, 34, 38, 40.

Ducks, 15, 19. '"■:'.

Black, 19.

KKl.-grass, 13, 40.

Kmpetrum nigrun\, 9, 1 2, 34, 38, 40.
Kmpidonax llaviventris, 19.
Everlasting, 13, 4°-

Finch, Western CIrass, 29.
Klora of Sable Island, 12.
Fox, 6, 1 5.

Fragaria canadensis, 13.
Fringilla, 24.

Gnaphai.him, 13.
Grass, Red-top, 12.
Gull, Great lUatk-backed, 19.

Herring, 19.

Kittiwake, 19.

IlYLA pickeringii, 36.

Irsw:cii sand-hills, 26.

Jakgf.rs, 19.
Junco hyemalis, 19.
Juncoides campestre, 12.
J uncus balticus littoralis, 12.
Jumper, 9, 12, 34, 38.
Juniperus nana, 9, 12, 34, 38.

Larus argentatus smithsonianus, 19.

marinus, 19.
Lathyrus maritimus, 13.
Lettuce, Sea, 13.
Lichens, 13, 38.
Longspur, Lapland, 26.

Mammals of Sable Island, 14.
Meadow-rue, 13.
Merganser, Red-breasted, 19.
Merganser serrator, 16, 19.
Mitchella repens, 13.
MoUusca, 14.
Mosses, 13, 39. 40. 4'-
Myrica cerifera, 1 3, 42.

Nyctea nyctea, 1 5.

OcEANODROMAleucorhoa, ig.
Odobxnus rosmarus, 14.
Owl, Snowy, 15.

r^NICU.M, 12.

I'artridgeberry, 13.

56

M

EMOIRS OK TIIK NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB.

I'asBerculua niaynardi, 21.

princeps, 20, 27,29, 30, 31.

savanna, 25, 31.
I'ea, IJeach, 13.
Petrels, 19.
I'hltuni pratenKe, 12-
riioca Kra'ilandica, 1 5.

vitnllina, 14.
ricctropheniix nivalis, 26.
IMover, liuUeil Tiping, 17.

Seinipalmated, lO, 17.
I'onies, 4, 6, 1 5.
I'oocxtes gramineus, 25.

gramineus confinis, 29.
I'otatofs, 14.

Kaiiiht, 15.

Kat, 15. •

Kingneck, 17.

lilack, 17.

White, 17, 18.
Kissa tridactyla, 19.
Kockweed, 14.
Kosa nitida, 1 3.
Rose-bushes, 13, 4°. 4'-
Runiex acelosella, 13, 42-
Rushes, 12.

Sable Island, birds, 16.

charts, 5, 7-

climate. 1 1 • , »

flora, 12.

history, 5.

lake, 8, 10.

lighthouses, 4, 8, ' "

mammals, 14.

physical aspect, 9.

size, 7, 9.

stations, 4, 7-

storms, 10, 12.

wrecks, 5, 6, 7.
Sandpiper, Least, 16, 17, 18.

Spotted, 16, 19.
Sandwort, 14.
SchoUera macrocarpa, 13.

Seals, 6, 14.

Harbor, 14.
Harp, 15.
Sedges, 12, 39.4°. 4'-
Sheep, 15.
Shore-birds, 19.
Sorrel, 13, 4'-
Sparrow, liaird's, 3, 24, 25-27, 30.

Ipswich, see Aminoilramtis prtnceps
■ Savanna, 28. 31, 34. 35- 3*'' 39-
Western Savanna, 29.
Sphagnum, 13.
Slercorarius parasiticus, 19.
Sterna dougalli, 16.
hirundo, 16.
paradis;ca, 16.
Strawberry, 13.
Swine, 5, I5-

Temperaturk, II, 12.
Tern, Arctic, 16.

Common, 16.

Portland, 16.

Roseate, 16.
Terns, 14, 15, 16. , •

Kggs, 16, 17-
Thalictrum, 13.
Timothy, 12.
Trifolium pralense, 12-

repens, 12.
Tringa minula, 17.

minutilla, 16, 17, 18.

Ui.VA, 13.

Vaccinium pennsylvanicum, 13.
Viola obliqua, 13.

lanceolata, 13.
Violet.s, 13. ,

Walrus, 6, i4'
Willow, 13.

ZONOTRICIIIA princeps, 21.
Zostera marina, 13.

•'.*<:"

^i.