.,,-:-.,. A V. o >• '■ ' '■ : a ■-■ z < UJ < s ■.2 a < a < z < Q ft. "J > ». O a; < ^) X y * -■ • ■ • . . . W II. TUB IPSWICM SPAKR(^w {AMA/0/)/e.1M^\S /W/Vr^/*v MAVNARr» \mt ITS SCMMEK HOMF nv JONATHAN mV^UIir, JR., M.l). WITH A C<»3.0Hi?r> PI ATtf :«^ » ; ,. - r ) 5". '• ■*■■*'• I* 4t nDcnioirt) of the IRuttall (S»rniiJ)oiootcal (llub. No. II. THE JPSWICII SPARROW {AMMODJ^AMUS PRINCEPS MAYNARD) ANU ITS SUMMER HOME. Hv JONATHAN DWlCillT, JR., M. D. win I A fOI.OKKI) l';.ATK. CAMIIJUIHiK. MA.SS. I'UIIHSIIKI) II Y THE CLUB. AUUl'ST, 1895. THE irSWICII SPARROW {AAf^FODRAMUS P/?/X(7tPS) AND ITS SUMMER HOME. BY JONATHAN nWIGIIT, JR., M. D. DiscovKRED among the sand-hills of Ipswich, Massachusetts, hy Mr. C. J. Maynard, and the single specimen ohtainod by him December 4, 1868, wrongly identified as Haird'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-hills fringing so much o{ our Atlantic coast, have proved the bird to be a regular migrant or winter visitor, found more or less abundantly from Maine to Gei»rgia. For nearl}' sixteen years after its discovery there was no clue to its breeding haunts until, in 1884, ^ single summer specimen was obtained from Sable Island, Nova Scotia. Until ten years later no successful efVort was made to solve the mystery shrouding the summer home of a shy and silent species that disappeared from o\u" shores with the earliest breath of spring, not to n'turn again before the frosts of autinnn had browned the waving clumps of coarse grass where it makes its winter home. It was in the hope of reading some oftlie untiu"ned pages of tlie life-history of this interesting Sparrow that I visited Sable Island during the Fununer of 1894. A long personal acquaintance willi the bird, added to my recent observations, enables me to present n comprehensive acc(»unt of a sjiecies which, a New England discovery itself, annually imitates the Pilgrim Fathers in landing on New ICngland's Rhores : and I am conlident my brother ornitiiologists, of t''a> part of the country at least, will feel a particular interest in the new facts I am able to present regarding a species so peiuiliarly tli-Mr own. Perhaps one (»f the most interesting results f)f my trip has been to establish the fact that the Ipswich Sjiarrow is resident ds to Sable Ishmd. The frequi-nt fogs and the impossibility of making a landing unless the wind is in the right ipiarter, are otlu-r somces of delay and danger in visiting the place, and to accomplish it an unlimited amouiu of time anil patience must be at one's disposal. The voyages to and from the islaiitl acluall} occupied me six days, two of which were spen' at anchor in the fog. As I went olT in the first boat that had visited the island in fu c months I confess to 8ome misgivings wh"i he steamer left me, as to how long 1 might be obli'^ed to play Robinson Cruso^'. Like that gentleman I swept up the beach on the crest of a breaker, but i had llie advantage u( him in being comfortably si'ated in a surf b<»at. The cordialil) of my reception ipiickly dispelled nil do»d)ls as to my .surviving for an indelinite period, and when I left the island it was with regret, for everybody seemeil to take an interest in my researches, and no sooner was a nest found or a bird cautrht than the intelligence came to me over the t»!le|ilione wires that connect the dilferent stations, and some of tlu' domesiicati'd wild ponies were ready in the barns tu iriinspori me wherever 1 wisheil to go. THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 5 When everything is taken into consideration, I am convinced that the Fates were unusually propitious, and enabled ine to accomplish within a few weeks what might easily have taken as many months. No steamer visited the island for two months after I left it, and this impossibility of escape from 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 incflv;nita. 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 theme of many a pen, and itnpor- tant for us to dwell at some length upon the natural history, about which little has been written. IIisTOuv OK Sahmc Isi.ani). Whether the Dane, Hiorn Ileriulfseii. really spied the island, as he is said to have done, in the ^ear 986 A. d. or not, is a matter not susceptible of proof,' but that it was known to the navigatois of the sixteenth century is shown by its appearance on early charts.'' It is apparently indicated as • samta cruz ' on a chart of 1505 by Pedro Reinel, as ♦ st cruz' on oiu> of 1544 by Sebastian Cabot, and as ' Isola d'ella Rena ' (Sandy Island) on out; of about 1550 by the Italian, Gaslaldi ; while it appears on various maps of later date under the names of * isle de sable,' ' I. Sable,' etc., all ringing changes on tiie Frencli word sable, nu-aning ' sand,' the adjacent mainland being in those times uikUt I'^ri'iich rule, aiul known as Acadie. The accmacy of some ol" the statements made by earl\- writers regarding tlie island, is (luestionable ; and whether the Frenchman, Baron de Lery, visited it ami left behind him cattle aiul swiiu- in llu- year 1518, is very doubtful ; but that the Portuguese stocked it with these animals about tht! midiUe of the sixteenth century seems to be an established fact. In 15.SJ occurred the fust of a IcMig series of disasters on its daiu'erous bars. The AJiiiirah iin armed vessel in the service of Her Majesty, (^j^ieen ICHzabeth, was wrecked here, and nearly ftne hundred lives Viero lost. 'J'he expedition, uiuler command of Sir Humphrey (iilluTt, lialf-brolher to Sir Waller Raleigh, consisted (tf five ships, and v/as proceeding from New- foiuulland, which island had just been taken |iossossi(ui (.f in the name of llie Uiicen. 'J. M. Oxlty. ' llistiiric AH|u-rts of SuMc IhIumcI.' \\w^. Aiiht. Hist., \V. Kuli. tSSfi, \U\. ^ • Kiusimilos of many of llu'iit may lie foun.l in ' < Miiifi ii> l''iMMiin;u,' liy Jn.slin \Miisor. \'^i)\, pp. 6. 5J. etc. ft<*-,,: 6 MEMOIRS OF TIIK NTTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUn. In 1598 forty convicts were left on the island by the Marquis de la Roclie, who intended to transfer them to the mainland as soon as he liad selected a site for a new colony. A storm, however, presently arose that drove him eastward, and he finally returned to France where lie is said to have been imprisoned. The convicts were not rescued for five or six years, when all save a dozen had perished, the survivors subsisting on cattle, seals and berries, and clotliing themselves with skins and furs. During the first half of the seventeenth century tlie island was visited by English and French fishermen and Ijunters in pursuit of the seals, walruses and foxes that then abounded, and Iiy otliers who hunted the cattle for tlieir hides. In 1633 John Rose of Boston, who was wrecked upon the island, reported having seen " more than eight hundred head of wild cattle and a great many foxes many of which were black." After lie had efiected his escape in a boat built from the wreckage of his vessel, lie returned again with seventeen Acadians, who so slanglitered the cattle that few remained when, some years later, a company arrived from Boston having the same euil in view. Apparently tlie cattle, foxes, and walruses were exterminated at about this 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 tlie island are said to be descendants o( this stock, although it is thought by some that they originally came from the wreck of a Spanish vessel.' Since Le Mercier's time the cattle have been at least semi-domesticated, for the island became during the 'atter half of the eighteenth century a place of resort, not only of honest fishermen, but of pirates and wreckers, attracted no doubt by the constantly increasing number of vessels that were cast away upon it. Gruesome tales are told of the robliery and mutder of the unfortunate people who escaped the sea only to fall into tlie hands of these miscreants, and blood-curdling ghost-stories have grown out of this dark period of the island's history. In order to protect life and iMoperty, the Government of Nova Scotia in the autumn of 1801 established on Sable Island the lirst relief )r humane establishment, that has developed into the well-equipped life-saving service there today. Since 1801 accurate records of the havoc wrought by storms in the physical aspect of the island, ami of the matiy wrecks that have occurred on its outlying bars, have been kept by the variou.s superip.lendents. Up to 1882, no less than one hundred and 'For an arcnunt nf tlicm see J. H. ("lilpin 'On inlrn.lmcil spotlun «>f Nov.i Si4, pj). Go-()S, Tin: ii'swrcn si'Arrow. 7 fifty known wrecks had occurred, and by January i, 1895, eighteen more had been added, two of them occurring during the summer of 1894, after my departure. A ' wreck-chart' of the island was prepared by Mr. S. D. Macdonald of IlaHfax in 1882, and published by tlie Department of Marine of the Dominion Government.' It has been revised up to 1890, but there are supposed to have been other unknown wrecks far out on the bars, of which there is no evidence save perhaps broken spars or a dead body flung 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 shipwreck 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 ^vhich records its gradual demolition by storms and ocean currents. It is now apparently a ipiestion of years, not centuries, before the island becomes a submerged bar like tliose with which it is surrounded or those which extend out for miles from either end. Tliere have been i>eriods when it has melted away with startling rapidity, and then again others during which little or no change has taken place. The western extremity has suflered most, while the eastern has been little aftected 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 such a statement has not been fully substantiated. It is the western end and southern shore that have been steadily washing away, and the process goes on more rapidly, the smaller the island becomes, while there is little or no compensatory Iniilding up of tiie eastern end. Its size prior to 1775 must remain a matter of conjecture. In tliat year, however, charts compded from Frencli sources show it to have been no less than f')rty miles in length and two and one (juarter in breadth. In 1799 an Admiralty survey, carefully made, gave the island a lengtli of thirty-one miles and a breadth of two. In 1808 a special Siirvey of the island made it thirty miles in length and two in breadth, with hills from one hundred and lifly to two hundred feet in height, reaching their maximuui elevation near the eastern end. In 181^ another chart shows the leigth to be only twenty-nine miles, and yet we learn that within the toMr years pr"or to 1814 no less than four miles of the western end had crumbled into the sea, as proved by the situation of the main station erected in iPoi. It was then 'A facsimile nf this niup, together with an account of the IslamI, may be found: J. M. t>xley. 'An Octsan Graveyaril,' Scribner's Magazine, I, May, i8Sj, pp. 0oj-6io. r.^frfsiTJ fWsffSKfi" 8 MKMOIRS or TIIK NinTAIJ- ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUH. five miics from tlie western end. Its removal was necessitateu in 1814, in iSjo, and in 1H33, the sea advancinj^ meantime eleven miles. A snrvey in 1829 j^ave a ienj^tii of only twenty-two miles, while anotlur in 1H51 increased this to twenty-three, since which time no survey has heen nnide. I'wD wooden lij^htliouses, one at either end, were erected in 1873, the distance hetween them in a direct line beinf:{ twenty-one miles, with probably a mile or so of ^Mass-covered hills beyond th-'m at either extremity. In 1882 the sea undermined the western lijfhthouse, and it was hastily 'aken down and moved 1218 feet further eastward. In 188S a second removal became n-.-cessary, and this lime it was tran.sporlc.l nearly two miles eastward (9100 feet SE. by K., A E.) to the site it now occupies. IMeanwliile the sea has advanced to within about half a mile, and in a very few years will a^ain threaten its destruction. These lij^ures are derived principally from one ol Mr. Macdonald's int^-restinj; papers on Sable Islaml.' It will be observed that they are somewhat conllictiiiij, but wlu'lher tliis is due tu inaccuracies in the s»nve3s, to the dilliculty of di-terminin^ exactly where the ends of the island are, or to an actual movement eastward of the sand, the fact remains tliat the island is far smaller than it was a century age. Reji^ardin^ ti»e history of the lajifoon or lake which has always occupied a larjje portion of the island, I cannot do better than ipiote a few lines iVouj the Rev. George Patterson's excellent and exhaustive paper," where he s .ys : — The cl>i»n;;es Kr)iiig on in the physical structure of tl»o island appear further froni wliat lias t.ik^'U place in the lake. Some time l)c'forc> the first )rovuiniiu>iit cstahlish- inciil WIS placid on tlu- island there was an opening; into it from llu> imrtli. Tlic supciinleiulent, writing in iSoS, says tliat 'it is coinpKtt'y sluit, ami it is iliHimit to trace wliciu it I) is been.' The su|K.'rinton(luiit in i8.>6 mentions the .same fact, hut ur^es the reo|>eiuii){ of it, which he thinks ini;;ht he accomplished at moderutu ux|K-nse, in which case it would serve as a harbor nf refii;;e for vessels of lifty Ions. .Some yens after a terrific storm caused a similar openiiv^ from the south, through which small vessels entered for shelter, hut in the year 18)6 a simil.ir storm tilled it up agahi, iiU'losir^ two .Xmeiican vcAseis which had taken refuse witliin. For Home time after the formation of the government establishment (m the island, this lake w.is fifteen milrs lonj{, anr;;ely uned it in conveying supplies to the cn.nt end, in hrint;iiiK wood *TnHM. N. H, Inm. Nut. Scl. Vol. Vt, pt. Iv, iSHfi, pp. iio-liQ. *Rrv. (ice remain.s of n sand continent of remote jrlacial ori},'in or, more probably, a vast heap of j,'lacial detritus brou<.jbt from the north by the ice-floes of a more modern period and heaped up by existing ocean currents.' At all events, it now forms the ribbon-like crest of a submerged bank two huiulred miles lonj<; by ninety in breadth, similar to those extending from Newfoundland to the shoal.s 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 attainiufj an elevation of eighty feet and resembling' in almost every particular save i{reater size the stretches of sand dune-4 to be found alonjr our Atlantic sea- board,— the same treeless aspect, the same sparse covering of coarne bcach-^rass, the same deserts of shil^in^ white sand. IJul on Sable Island in the ludlov/s nmon^ the hillii and often to their very summits, grassoM jjrow luxuriantly in many places, and a lar^e part is carpeted with the evergreen Crowberry {Empi'trum tiii^ritm L.) and Juniper (Jnnif>i'n4s muKi Willd. ) which are very characteristic productions. Iletvveen the two lighthouses it stretclu-s in the form of a sleniler cresc«Mit, the c«)ncavity towarjis tlie Nova Scotia coast distant itt its nearest point eighty-six geograjihiial miles. The horns of the crescent extend at . M«i(l(Mittli!, 'HiiltlM liiUnd, n«». j, lU pmImIiIv otigin 4ihI i.utiiiiuig>i. Iv, 1H8C, ]<)}-j8o. lO MKMOIRS OK Tllli NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. either eiul in several parallel subinerf^ed bars a (lis'ance of fifteen 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 wesiern 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 cut 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 (»ne half of its lengtii, diminishes the land area of the western portion fully one half. The lake, at most a few hundred yards Im 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. Hetween the lake and the ocean northward intervenes u 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 feet. Viewed in the fog it looms up like an important range of mountains, descending abruptly on the ocean side, and sloping mow gradually into the central valleys of the island, which are blocked at every turn with lesser hills and iliversilied with numerous fresh-water ponds. A Ic-^s 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 siiown. Once let a • raw^ ' spot (as it is aptly called) be found,— a break perhaps by hools 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 the other the island is a series of startling contrasts, verdure and sand ileserl g()ing hand ia hand. A single wint«'r's stmm may completely change the face of the landscape, spiriting away hillocks in this place, building up others in that, and spreatling a thick blanket of sand <»ver what was perhaps the f.drest .spot of all. This burying process produces the thin layers of vegetable n ouhl that alternate in many places with the sand of which the soil is almi»st wholly composed. The sand consists chielly of fine ryw,v THE IPSWICH Sl'ARROW II rounded grains of white or transparent ipiartz, and no stt.'ies aro lound.' The beach is strewn witli shells of m-\ny species, and il: monotonous stretches are relieved by the ribs and other fragmen's .;! unfortunate vessels. Inland, the continuous areas of vegetation ai i much more exten- sive over the eastern half of the island than elsewhere; and evergreen shrubs almost entirely replace the turf-covered areas of its western part. Climatk. 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" W.: West End Light, Lat. 43" 56' 40" N., Long. 60" 6' W.)Mvould indicate. It lies in the cold Labrador current sweeping down from IJallin's Bay. Hence the cool summers; for Mr. Houtilier 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 heen as low as 6' F., rarely reaching the single figure. .Snow does not lie long, hut 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 (Julf 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 aiul 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 woidd sometimes struggle through for a few moments. Once or twice it shone brightly in the crisp ai., a still" 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 wns a pretty sight, and large balls of the foam, diminishing in sixe as they sped, were cha.-^ed along by the wind, leaving behind them ijueer while trails on the moist beach. *C/. N l> M,><'l"n«lossihle to study satisfactorily the llora of Sidile Island, for at the time of my visit few of the plants had more than just opened their earliest buds, and of the species collected, many c('s/tr ( L. ), bul there are also some unrecogni/able species of ( V//r.v atul Panicnm, Tinjothy {IVilcum pratcusi L.) and Ketl-top (Jrass {As>roslh allxt vulgaris With.), as well a:» Red Clover {Tri/oliuin /•ratcnsc L.), have been cultivated near the stations, ami White Clover ( 7\ ttpcHS L.) is fretpu-ntly met with, but man's inrtiience has been at work on the island for so niany cenlmies that it is almost impossible ,(. draw tlie lim- hetwcci: iniligenons species, if such there be, and those artificially introduced. Next to the Bench-grass, the heather-like, alpine Crowberry ( /j>w/r//7//w fu'j^rnm L.), with its black little berries, vies with the sturdier Juniper (Jiim'prrtis uuna Willd.) in abundance. The thick, yitlding carp lancrolata L.) v\ere abundant, and many inconspicuous plants were pushing above the ground and unf»»lding their early buds or blossoms, the niajorily of thejn too young for aicurale determination. 'I'his is to be regri-tted, lor my speciinens show that not less than forty sju'cies oiciir. Several mosses ami lichens nre found, among them a Spfioi^ium. Kel-grass {Xostrra tmin'mt L.) abounds in the lagoon, and occurs as drift along its shores, associated with green fdmy sheets of Sea Lettuce {Ulva Bp. ?) that soon become '4 M!i:M01KS Ol- THE NUTTALL ORNiTIIOLOGICAL CLUB. dried and bleached. Rockwced {Ascophyllum nodosum (L.) )' torn from its anchorage on some distant shore, is daily cast on the beach, but like some of the shells found there, of West Indian species, its appear- ance is quite accidental. There is one more plant that is worthy of mention, the Sandwort, as represented hy Arcnaria fcflotdcs L. and A. grirnlamlica (Retz). 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 tlie "golden-rod, asters, and blue lilies" that are said to bloom later in the season, I failed to obtain any specimens. Some of the grasses are cut for hay, but it did not look as if the crop could be a very heavy one. Potatoes and a few other vegetables are raised, but successful farming in such sandy soil is out of the question, even if the summers 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 are among the most conspicuous and characteristic of its llora, which resembles in many respects that of the adjacent maiidand. 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, f-i (illiilnV |)niii|ilik'l ( 1H5S) In ilto only IroallMe evvr piililUlu'd lliat hanullcnipledii xki'lih of the faiiii.i .u)ili|i)i,ii>rs,iliU: Inlaiitl To it \% appunilml a llxl of lliirly ulght nporleN of mollusiit l)y j. WilliR. Tm-; IPSWICH sparrow. 15 their shiny black lioads ranging into a semi-circle jnst beyond the breakers if I paused to watch them. Occasionally I saw small groups of the larger Harp Seal {P/ioai gro'u- /aiul/caFixhv.), the young of which are born on the bars in the month of January. I was shown the 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 indirectly by the hand of man, at one period or another, of every introduced species including the domestic animals, is a striking fact. The life tenure of each has also depended on a litnited 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 dt) not survive the winters. The extermina- tion of the wild cattle and foxes that occupied the island in the seventeenth century has already been mentioned elsewhere. Tlie 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 have been plagues of rats in con- sequence of the freipu'ut wrecks. The stores of the lirst superinlendent were so extensively demolished by these pests, that for a time he and his men were actually threatened with starvation. Ral)bits, ordinary pet rabbits, were first introduced over lifty years ago, ami apparently survived many years. It is said that about 1827 a Snowy Owl took up his abode on the island, feasting upon them and remaining throughout the summer. Towards t88o some cats were tunu'd loose, which fell upon the rabbits ami rats and rapidly exterminated them. Shortly afterwards they themselves succumbed to winter hardsliips. In 1882 rabbits were again introduced, and became so abumlant and such a miisance 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 uKuIe an end of all the rabbits and the cats. The foxes have greatly multiplieil, and are now exterminating the birds, sucking the eggs of the wild Ducks, and devouring the Terns which they catch nt night on their nesfs. That the Ipswich Sparrow has been on the bill of fare of all these rats ami cats and foxes (and prior to 1814. very likely, the wild swine) we can hardly doubt,— will it be spared their fute? ■m^\ l6 MKMOIRS OF THE NUTIALL ORMTlKyLOGlCAL CLUB. Birds. The total mimhcr of species of birds brcoiliiig on Sable Island is ten, and i-i relative order of abundance they stand about as follows : Sh'riia piiradistPti, Sterna hirundo, ^'fLgialitis scintpaliiiala, Ainmoilramiis frin- ccps, Triui^a niiuiitiiin, /Ei^ialitis mcloda circnmctncla, Sterna dougalli. Merganser serrator, Anas obscura, and Act it is mactUaria. The sandy character of the island, with its lagoon and its bars, makes it a paradise for Terns, which are by far the most abundant and most con- spicuous of its feathered inhabitants. These 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-jMcking,' as it is called, is systematically carried on by the life- saving crews for several weeks after the birds begin to lay. Finally every- body wearies of egg diet and the Terns are left to rear their young without further molestation from man. Tiie '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 fggs bi'came 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 fox burrows. It is to be hoped every elVort will be made by the proper aiilhorities to protect these birds from their worst enemy, 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 furnisl» the strange headgear that Fashion thought- lessly imposes. Probably more than two tliirtls of the birds I saw were Arctic Terns, and a large portion of liu" other tiiird Common Terns, with a goodly sprinkling of Roseates, tl)e latter a species harilly to be expectetl si) far ncrtlivvard and associated with such boreal species as the Least Sandpiper and Semip.il mated Plover. A few inilividuals of the Arctic Terns were in the peculiarly striking plumage in which they were once descibed as the Portland Tern. Dissection showed that such birils were immature and not breeding. Rare indeed was the momeiit when a Tern was not somewhere in sight, 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 «ca 8eemed hushed, the sudden cry of a restless bird passing overhead THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 1 7 would be heard. The uproar occasioned by the invasion of their colonies was augmented by every bird within call of its fellow. Although the dif- ferent species usually selected dilTerent parts of tlie beacli for nesting grounds, the multitude of birds in the air seemed to preclude the proper identification of tiie 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 sufficient time at one's disposal, eventually to mark down individual birds on their nests and, when they are disturbed, to follow them with the eye throughout the maz.es of the hovering hordes. The presence of the Semipalmated Plover or Ringiieck, 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 {Charadrins Torticollis) and Peeps {Triuga mitiiita) were breeding in numbers. ..." '■'■ Torti- collis" a curious confounding with ' wry-neck,' of course refers to two species, but the reference to the Least Sandpiper 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 tlie 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 the 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 frecpiently and loudly, tliough not very musi- cally. The liquid sweetness of the well-known call-note is lacking, and there is some suggestion of the kow-kow notes of tlie HUick-bilied Cuckoo. The song consists of a rather harsh, resonant txi-huj^, 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 Nighlhawk, 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 • niack Ringnecks,' to distinguish them from the * White Ringnecks,' as the Belted Piping Plovers are called. 'HUhop. Auk. VI, 1889, 147. 1 8 MEMOIRS OV THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. The presence of the latter subspecies, heretofore considered a bird of the Northwest and straying only occasionally to the Atlantic coast, was another of Sable Island's surprises. They are outnumbered by the Semi- palmated Plovers perhaps a hundred fold, but they are moderately abundant. Tliey lay their eggs in hollows made in the sand, without any attempt at a nest. The eggs are like those of the ordinary Piping Plover (which bird I did not find on tlie island), finely speckled on a light ground, and quite unlike the eggs of the Semipalmated Plover, which are heavily spotted on a dark ground. The birds themselves, including the females, had the neck-ring of black complete and conspicuous. The question of distribution raised by these facts is an interesting one. Another unexi)ected species tound on Sable Island was the Least Sand- piper, although Dr. Gilpin mentions it back in 1858. Recent observers have found it iMceding in Labrador, and doubtfully refer it to Newfound- land and the Magdalen Islands. On Sable Island it abounds, though far less abundant than the Semipalmated Plover, and unlike the latter confines itself to the turfy stretches adjacent to the inland ponds. This 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 Semipalmated Plover, which, however, it resembles in monotonous repetition. It, too, is delivered on the wing, but the fiight of the little Sandpiper is quite difierent. He poises often high in air with a series of rapid flaps of the wings, followed by a soaring forward (never in circles) while the wings are sliflly 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 second, continues to vibrate in the air. The intonation is very like that of the spring note of the common toad, and the couplet (on.l^r' 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 oft' in the drifting fog. At its close the performer would glide to the ground with the low, cheerful chuckle that is tamiliar to us during the migration, and perhaps scamper away with hjs 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 the 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 THE IPSWICH SPARROW. I9 trodden u/on, and then tumble along over the ground, as if injured, to divert your attention trom their treasures, which stand very nearly on their pointed ends in the deep cup prepared for them. The birds are tame and certainly deserve tlie pleasing accounts that have been written of them by Audubon, Nuttall, Dr. Coues, and others. Of the two species of Ducks that are summer residents on the island, the Red-breasted Merganser is the more abundant, altliough both are much diminished in numbers compared with what they used to be, and the foxes are now making sad liavoc with the handful that remains. Dr. Gilpin mentions " Black Duck (Anas obscuro) and the Shell Drake (Merganser)." Where a Duck can be seen silting on her nest in an exposed situation, as is often the case, the foxes do not have to search for them, and it is only some of the nests hidden away in the 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 tridactyla), 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 {Lams argcntatus smiihsoniantis and L. nunitius) were seen, and on foggy nights Petrels {Occanodroma leucorhoa) used to come about the lighthouses in numbers, following their nocturnal proclivities, and wandering 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 Stcrcorarius farasiticns 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 Junco hycmalis, Emfidonax favivcntris, CJurtura pelagica, und others) made tlieir appearance, possibly losing their way in the fog or drifted along by the wind. After loitering for a few days tiiey, too, would disappear, to be replaced later by other waifs. I was informed that in the spring few Sliore-birds or Ducks visit tiie island, and that in the autunm 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 OF TIIK XUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. Synonymy. Ammodramus princeps (Maynard). Ipswich Sparrow. Centronyx bairdii, Maynard, Am. Nat. Ill, 554, 1869 (original notice of supposed occurrence of Centronyx bairdii in Massachusetts, the bird proving to be a new species, Ammodramus princeps); Nat. Guide, 112, frontisp., 1870 (original description and woodcut of the supposed C. bairdii).— khhVM, Am. Nat. Ill, 513, 631, 1869-70 (further notice of same).- Samuels, Bds. New Engl. 581, .870 (reference to same) ; N. and E. Hds. 58,, 1883 (= Ms. New Engl., .870, retitlod).- Brewster, Am. Nat. VI, 307, 1872 (two additional specimens from Massachusetts).— Coues, Key, '^^'pSerculus princeps, Maynard, Am. Nat. VI, 637. 1872 (explanation of error and the supposed C. bairdii named Passercnhts princeps) ; Nat. Guide, 2d. ed., 1 12, '1877 (colored plate, text revised); Bds. Florida, pt. iv, 101, 1878 (good general account, colored plate) ; Bds. E. N. Am. loi, 1881 (= Bds. Florida, .878, retitled).- CouEs 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) ; Bull. N. O. C. Ill, i, 1878 (synonymy, bililiograpliy) ; Check-List, 2d. ed.. 52, 160, 1882 ; Key, 2d ed., 361, i88.^.— Baird, Brew, and Rinow. Hist. N. Am. Bds. I, 533, 540, pl. 25, f. ., 1874 (general account, with description and colored plate of head).— Brewer. Froc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. XVII, 441, 1875 (New England) ; ,Vi/-/ XIX 305,1878 (further records) ; //vV/. XX, 270, 1879 (references).— Brown, Rod and Gun, VI, 81, 1875 (Maine); Bull. N. O. C. II, 27, 1877 (New Hampshire, doubtful) ; Lippincott's Mag. XXIII, 622, 1879 (woodcut, Maine); Bull. N. O. C. VII, 190, 1882 ; Proc. Portl. Soc. Nat. Hist, 13. ,882. — Brewster, Bull. N. \ C. 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, ,877 ; Auk, I, 390, 1884 (Sable Island, Nova Scotia, probably breeding),— Baii.ey, Bull. N. O. C. II, 78, 1877 (New York).— Giehel, Thes. Orn. Ill, 38, 1877 (placed in Zonotrichia).— U\^(yx. Bds. New Engl., 195,1877 (general account); ibid 2d ed. (Brewster), 201, 1895.— Ali.en, Bull. Essex Inst, X, if.. 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. Jekfries, Bull. N. O. C. IV. 103. 1879 (habits, comparison of plumage with ^. j. .ww«//<0-— Ahbott, F. and S. XIV, 44, 1880 (New Jersey).— Ridcway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Ill, 178, 217, 1880 ; ibid. IV, 211, i88i ; Auk, I, 292, 1884 (supposed eggs from Sable Island, N. S.)— Wooi.sEV, Bull N. O. C. V, 121, 1880 (Connecticut).- Scott, BuU.N. O. C. VI, 1 16, 1881 (New Jersey).- Stearns. New Engl. Bd. Eifo. 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).— Inoer- SOLL, Birds'-Nesting, 93, 1882 (nidification unknown).— Dutcher, O. and O. VIII, 48, THE IP.^.VICH SPARROW. 31 1883 (New York); Auk, I, 31, 1884 (= previous record); ibid. II, 36, 1885 (many specimens from Long Island, N. Y.). — Griffing, O. and O. VIII, 22, 1883 (New York).— Smith, F. and S. XIX. 466, 1883 (Maine, rare in spring).— Langii.le, Bds. E. N. Am., 199, 1884 (mere mention).— Bishop, O. andO. X, 30, 1885 (Connecticut). — DwiGHT, Auk, II, 105, 1885 (Delaware). Passerculus maynardi, Baird, Brew, and Ridgw., Hist. N. Am. Bds. I, 541, 1874 {lapsus pen im in text). Zonotrichia princeps, Giebel, Thes. Orn. Ill, 38, 772, 1877 {Passerculus a jyuonym of Zonotrichia). Ammodramus princeps, Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. VIII, 354, 1885 (placed in genus Ammodramus); Man. N. Am. Bds., 407, 1887.— Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus., I, no. 7. 251, 1886 ; Auk, X, 126, 1893 (faunal relations).— A. O. U., Check-List, 265, 1886; ibid, abridged ed.,48, 1889.— Dutcher, Auk, III, 44I' 1886 (distribution, food); F. and S., XXXIV, 206, 1890.— Jones, Auk, 111,135,1886 (Nova Scotia mainland in spring).— Sennett, Auk. Ill, 135, 1886 (Texas, probable error in label). — Chamderlain, Cat. Canad. Bds., 85, 1887 (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia); Table Canad. Bds., 10, 1888; Ornith. U. S. and Can. (revis. Nuttall's Man.) I, 326, 1891 (brief mention).— Cooke, Migrat. Miss. Valley, 188, 1888 (occurrence in Texas doubted).— Jordan, Man. Verteb. 5th ed. 286, 1888.— Sharpe, Cat. Passcrif. pt. Ill, 679, 1888 (synonymy, description).— Bishop, Auk, VI, 199, 1889.— Brown, Proc. Portl. Soc. 39, 1S89.— Davie, Nests and Eggs, 3d ed. 298,1889 (=, practically, Ridgw. Auk, 1884).— Mavnard, Eggs N. Am. Bds. 104, 1890 (authenticated eggs unknown).— J. Nelson, Geol. Surv. N. J. II, 541, 1890.— Rives, Proc. Newport Soc. N. H., Doc. VII, 73, 1890 (Virginia).— Worthincton, Auk, VII, 21 1, 1890 (GeorgLa). — AvERiLL, Bridgeport Sci. Soc. 14, 1892 (Connecticut, rare).— Laurent, O. and O. XVII, 88, 1892 (New Jersey).— Stone, Auk, IX, 204, 1892 ; Bds. E. Penn. and N.J. 112, 1894 (New Jersey, winter resident). — Apgar, Key, 28, 1893. — Brewster, Auk, X, 302, 1893 (= Worthington, 1890); //vV/., X, 365.— Chapman, Bds. Vicm. N. Y. City. 59, 1894 (winter resident); Handb. Bds. East. 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 Island, Nova Scotia, partly resident. In migration confined closely to the seacoast southward, wintering casually in New England, more abun- dantly from New York to Virginia, and occasionally reaching Georgia. Description-s. 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 cm the nape, obscurely streaked on the neck and rump, broadly ' Ridgway *s nomenclature of colon* 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 fe, (includ- ing the scapularies, the tertiaries and most of tlie wing coverts) is cent, y clove brown, merging into an outer zone of .sepia o' 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 gre.ater and median coverts. The coverts and the outer webs of the scapularies, tertiaries and secondaries, are tinged witii 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 (chielly the outer) narrowly edged with ashy white. Under parts white, streaked r.iiher broadly with brown along the sides from the bill to the tail and on the breast, giving the ellect 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, sul)ma!ar streak is continued along the sides in two fairly definite lines that are supplemented by othors on the breast, where they aggregate into an obscure central blotch, the entire inner web of some of the median fea'hers being of a ru.sty brown. The chin and jugulum are immaculate and, together with a malar stripe, broadening posteriorly, are pure white. /\ dark brown rictal streak curves uinvaril towards a paler poslocular line. 'I'he 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 while and conceal the others) white with dusky shaft streaks. Iknd of wing tinged with yellow, which sometimes also suffuses the lesser external coverts. Tibiie pale vandyke. I-egs, in fresh specimen, yellowish or brownish tlesh-color, fading in time to a pale yellowisl- buff. Feet darker, es|K'cially at the joints. Hill in fresh specimens : upper mandible I *h black, grayish 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 tiesh brown |K)steriorly, and flesh color at the base, failing in time to a yellowish buff. Iris deep hazel brown. 'I'he 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 sh.irper, than at any other season of the year. The yellow over the eye, ac(|uired late in the .s|)ring moult, is equally intense in both sexes, although the individual intLti.>ii^ !r variable. I'he leathers of the lower parts arc white only at their extremities, and if disarranged easily show the mouse-gray of their proximal pcution. .tilults in itiitiimn. .Above hoary, even grayer than in spring tlress, owing to the broad ashy edgings of the feathers. The russet on the wings is n little more pro- noun(ed, the vandyke /one of the dorsal ffa(her« is broader, and the superciliary line is ,i>,liy white or only faintly tinged with yellow. Ilenealh, ' sjigjit biiffy cast |ir(\,uU ( xcrpt on the chin, abdomen, and lower tail coverts, an i the streakings ail' siilinscd, ,tnd paler and rustier than in spring. This effect is due latKely to a wider lone of the vandyke and to the long, veiling, white margins of the feathers. THE IPSWICH SPARROW. IJ }(>«///,' of the year. Diflfers from the adult in the brownish, rather than grayish, tints above, in the richer, deeper russet on the wings, and in the decided buflfy wash that suffuses the head, the neclt, and the under parts. This burtiness is most marked on the sides and lireast, and it strongly tinges the malar stripe anil auriculars. YoHii^ in first plumaf^e. ($, juv.. No. 3870, collection of J. Dwight, Jr., .Sable Island. Nova Scotia, Augu.-.i 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. Hack and upper tail coverts i)uffy or ashy, broailly strip I w=th deep clove brown. Kacii feather has a large median, almost bl.ick. ellii)ti 'Jt that merges into a narrow zone of buff broadly edged with ashy white. The soapularies 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 tiu- outer webs, with pale cinnamon brown wiiich becomes broader and richer on the long lerliaries, while the margins of liie first primary, the short terliarie.s, and the greater and median covert.s, are conspicuously ashy white, forming on the coverts two obscure wing-bars. The median coverts are dusky and show little or no cinnamon. lUneath. pale yellowish bulT, nearly white on chin, abdomen, and under t.iil coverts; slre.iked, as in the adult, on the sides anil breast with dee|) clove brown, almost black. Rictal and jiostocular streaks strongly tinged with Vandyke, .\uriculars pale ochraceous buff, forming a distinct spot on the side of the head ; lores dusky. Superciliary stri|)e ashy gray. Tibia: pale cinnamon. Legs, fret, and bill similar to those of the adult, but somewhat paler. The relatively larger size and jKiler coloration of this species readily distinguish it in all plumages from A. stimhouhensis uivanna, the average female being about the size of the male s,iv,vin,t. The superficial resemblance to certain pale Western l)irds referable to A, s. itfivUinns, is in a few cases rather striking. Phi. first plumage of s,nuuiu); tidi 58.5 (55 (.3); tarsus aa.5 --1.5-24.5); middle toe 17.4 (16.5 i8); claw of middle toe 5.1 (4 6); bill, chord of ex|M)scd culmen, it (.iO""'5)» ^'" Com nostril, 8.5 (7.5-9.5); t'^'P^h of bill at nostril 5,9 (5-6.5). Measurements 0/30 females: I-ength" 149 (142-159); extent* 341.3 (a34-a48); wing 71 (('7 74); tail 55.4 (52 59); tarsus 21.5 (jo 2.^), middle toe 16.7 (15.5- 18); claw of midt ml(l«ll« lu« .AM 1 lUw of aot Mil. iliord rif i<>MMt nilnipn, ..||. from noniril . ({' (It'P*^ ** nm\x\\ .IJ. 9 I l.iiiHlh y^j i exlmil g 50; wind ^.^^)\ tui) i.iH; Umiii M^\ mldcili to* .Mt d«W ol I0| bill, chord of cxpiiituil lulnivn, .42. from n«i»tril .jj, dapth •( nuatrU .11. »4 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. History of the Ipswich Sparrow. Before infriidin^ upon the Ipswich Sparrow in the privacy it has enjoyed for so many years on its ishind home, it is worth our while to glean from published records such information as has been current regarding an imperfectly known sju'cies. Inasmuch as I have found it to be the only resident bird upon Sable Island, it is interesting to note in pm«ing that as early as 1858, D>*. Gilpin in a pamphlet upon the natural history of the island' said " A little brown sparrow (/^^'/«i>7'/A/ ) also summered and wintered there." Wlii!e this is undoubtedly a reference to the Ipswich Sparrow, his impoitance was not recognized, nor did he appear as a scientific fact until Mr. ISIaynard in tlie ' Atnerican Naturalist' for December, 1869, (p. 554) thus introduced him, u!uler another bird's name, to the zoological world : '*0n Dec. 4th, 1868, I shot a sparrow tiiat was new to me, on the sand-hills at Ipswich. Through the kindness of Prof. S. F. Hainl, of the Smithsonian Institution, to whom I sent it lor comparison with the onh' rx/ant s/>rrimi'u of thu' Cvnfrouyx Jidirdii (\\\\\c\\ i.N owned by him), it has been jiroved identical with that collected by Audubon in iS.j.^ on the banks of the Yellowstone River, in the far West. My specimen dillers somewhat in size and general coloration from Prof. Haird'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 md preserving objects of Nattnal llislory,' which will also contain a complete list of the birils of Eastern Massachusetts, with critical notes and remarks relative to the localities in which some of the rarer species occur. A life-sized engraving of the Ci'utronyx captured at Ipswich will also he given." In justice to Prof. Maird, it may be here stated that at that time there was but one worn and faded specimen of Haird's Sparrow, taken nearly thirty years before, with which to make couiparison. 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. 6ji) muler * Ct'titroHvx Ihtirdir of his list. During the year 1870 Mr. Maynard's 'Naturalists' (iuide' was published, containing n wood-cut and origiiuil tiescription of the supposed B.iird's .Spmiow (p. 1 13). As this really applies to Ammotiramus pn'nccps^ I take the liberty of tjuoting the article Almost entire : — 'FoTMKt I'll' h III. I !•• kiKxxliii^ |>t|ieni quulvil. r«(tr«n«:« •huuld Im in*(l« Iti lh« MMIo|rii|ihy •|.|'-'>'l'.l .0 |.,i>" tj. TIIK IPSWICH SPARROW. »$ 75. Centronyx Bairdii, T\a\ht>.— /i,i/n/'s Sparroiv. It is with pleasure that I add Ills uniquL' sparrow to the Catalo;;ue of the Hirds of Kastern Massachusetts. Previous to the capture of this there was but one specimen extant, wliich was one of the orifjinal birds captured by Audubon upon the hanks of the Yellowstone River, July 26, 1843. My specimen, throuj^h the kindness of Professor S. F. Haird, has been compared with the original, which is in his possession, and pronounced identi- cal; but as mine differs somewhat from his, 1 have thought best to give a descrip- tion of it here.* Centronyx Bairdii, \\K\v.\u—BahJ' Spamnv. (Sec FrontlNplece.t) Emhetitii Biutulii. Ai n., HinlR America, VII, 1S43; PI. 500. CotufHiiulus Htiirifii. Hon. Svn. 1850, jSi. Centronyx /iain/u. Daikd, Hird* N. Am. 1858, 441. Si'. Ch.— Hack grayish ; the middle of the feathers having a black centre edged with rufous, lop of head streaked with dusky and pale rufous, divided by a broad stripe of pale yellowish while. There is also a whitish sujjerciliary strijw extend- ing from the base of the bill to the back of the head. Kar coverts grayish, with a rufous tinge. Quills brownish, edged with white on the outer web; scapularies, secondaries, and wlng-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. I'ail brownish, with the tips of the feathers and terminal half of the outer web of the (uiter tail-feathers 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 l)and across the breast and sides, streakeil with rufous, with dusky centres. The throat is indi.s- tinclly sp(»ttcd with dusky. A triangular spot on the sides of the neck, below the Mf-covcrts, pale bulT; ears dusky. Hill (hirk brown, with base of the under mandible paler. Kyes and feet brown. Differs from /'c^rrrfff x'tiiwinnts, whk\\ \n general form It rcsembtei, In hAviOf 1 central stripe on the head, and a general tufons .ippe.irance, also in hnvillf longtr Ursi, toes, and claws. With I'ttsstnului savmtut it < .uinot justly be compared, «■ U is much larger, and has a shorter and more obtuse bill. Indeed, ao nearly does it resemble the /'. x''. "«/«.'«., that am.U. m ..mithologists to whom I have shown it have unhesitalin|(ly pruuuunccd it to lie ih.u .-.peiies. •"Il 4lff«it la color Jual m cl«ar •ulumn«l Mrtb dlffir from wiun brao^iif MMa,-.tbils pakt. WufkliiRn m(< aIoiik th«i ti.p of ho4il U p«l«r, ni»t m fulvmiii h In lh« typui 1)111 in all MMMtlftl ixtknt* II %vam% m Ini tha mime liirtl."— l>r«lM»or N. K. MiiirtI, In t Th« ronvflilty »\ lh» iipprr maiidlMit U Kimctwhiit emggnratr-d In tha 4 26 MKMOIRS OF THE M'TTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. I jjive the comparative measurements of the two specimens, remarking that Professor Haird's was made from the dried skin, while mine was taken from the fresh l)ir(i.' The Ipswich Sand-hills, where the specimen was procured, is a most peculiar place. I never have met with its equal anywhere. Years ago these Sanil-hills, which are tliree miles long by 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 grounil, once covered with a slight deposit of soil, has become a mass of shifting sanus. 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 witii 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 t'le seeds of which, as I have remarked elsewhere, tliousands 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 I.apland I.ongspurs, I started a Sparrow from out the tall grass, which Mew wildly and alighted again a few rods away. I appro.iched the spot, surprised at seeing a Sparrow at this late day so far north, especially in so bleak a |)lacc. After some trouble ( again started it. It Hew wildly as before, when I fired, and was fortunate enough to secure it. It proveil to be Itaird's Sparrow. When I found I hid taken a speiimen 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 (me, however, ro.se too far oflf for gunshot, and I did not secure It. It (lew .\\\ u ti 1 i^reat distance, when I lost sight of it. .After this I thought that aimuig the MiyiMrMkii Mill. 4,64 1,77 1.10 0.49 0.30 0.84 0.91 0.7J MaMAchuRi'iu hlrd, 6.J0 j.ai a.6o 0.45 aja 0.9] i«j 0.71 THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 2J I think it more probable that the birds which occur at Ipswich are winter visitors from the north, than that they are stra<;glers from so ^reat 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 the following captures: "Mr. Maynard also informs me that he took two more specimens of IJaird's Sparrow {Ce.itronyx Dairdii)^ October 14th and isth [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 gwA of the year 1872, in the 'American Naturalist' for October (p. 637), the original error was corrected by him, and the 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 Smitlisonian Institution this spring and com- paring these specimens with the original C. BairJii, 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 tiierefore propose to name the Massa- chusetts bird J\issfrculus priturps, the large barren ground sparrow. 'I'iie Centronyx //(///v/// should also, I think, be referred to tiie genus I'asserculus, for I can see no good generic character by which it can be separated. A description and figure of this new Pas.serculus will be found in the 'Naturalists' Ouide ' (page iia), under the name of Cr/if/vfiyx Hitiri/ii, with a history of tlu; capture of the first spt-cinK n and also an account of !iow this name came to be applictl to it. It will likewise he understood that the name of Centronyx Bixirdii, given in a notice in the May number of the Naturalist (page 307) by Mr. Hrewster, should read l\tsserciilus: prinitps. Dr. Cones in his * Key,' p»d)lisln'd in 1872, under '■ Ccntron\x fxn'nh'f* hinted at " something not now anticipateil," and in the appendix uoogni/.ed •* /*. frinccps Maynard," saying, *' Although perfectly aware of this ut time of writing, I refrained from anticipating publication of the fact." From this time on, published references to the new species followed in rapid succession, atid it may be of interest to look at the first records for the diflerent States and Provinces. Arrangeil in secpience of publication, they are as follows : — ' hi theRetondeitlMiin, 1877, of tho'dulde,' Mr. Mnynuril, In the iiewliKlu ihrown upon the rimkIm, moilHiiMl mime of thoMo Htatonienlii to miii tlw «|ifrift lo whi( h Iht-y roally rofcrnd, tiiitl tluT* la MiilMlitiilt'd for the original wouU-cut • vttiy f^ii hiiiiilculuiml pUle of the IpNwicli Sjmiiow under lit pn>pur name. 28 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGJCAL CLUB. Massachusetts.— Ipswich, December 4, 1868. Maynard, Am. Nat. Ill, December, 1869, 554. Maine.— Cape Elizabeth, March 20, 1875. Drown, Rod and Gun, VI, May 8, 1875, 81. New Urunswick.— Point Lepreaux, April 11, 1876. Ikewster, Bull. Nutt. Ornith. 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, 11, January, 1877, 27.] New York.— Coney Island, Long Island, December 20, 1876. Bailey, Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, II, July, 1877, 78. Nova Scotia.— Sable Lsland, summer of 1884. Merriam, Auk, I, October, 1R84, 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. Hoc, 1889 90, 73. Georgia.— 'Jack's Bank,' Glynn County, January 8, 1890. Worthinglon, Auk, VII, April, 1890, 211. Two of these records are open to such grave doubt tliat it i.s worth our while to examine the evidence on which they rest. The llrst is the one (or New Hampshire by Mr. Brown who writes: "On tlie plh of October, 1876, I met with one of these birds on a sandy point on the northwest sliore of Lake Umbagog, in New Hampshire. I should hesitate' to record the occurrence of this species in a locality 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 1 failed to capture my bird, were I not perfectly acquainted with its alino.st unmi.stakable habits." Unfortunately, its habits do not distinguish it from the Savanna Sparrow, which under certain conditions of light might easily be confimnded with it. Besides, it confines itself so exclusively to the seacoast that its appearance so far inland under any circumsiaiucs woidd be highly exceptional. It is safer, therefore, to apply rigidly ihe (00 often sligbted rule that the capture of a specinu-n. especially where there is room for doubt, shall be the accepted evidence of its occurrence, and thus exclude the .sole record for the Slate. The species has been recorded ns n bird of Texas by Mr. Sennett, as follows: "I have in my collection an adult male AinniiHitanius fn'iicfps taken at Dallas. Texas, Dec. 10, 18H4. I obtained it from Mr. Fred. T. Jencks of Providence, who writes me in regard to it m follows : 'The THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 29 Ipswich Sparrow was purchased from the 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 hills of the Atlantic Coast." A couple of years later this record was challenged in Cooke's ' Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley' (p. 188), where it is stated "there is reason to suspect that the specimen really came from the coast of New England, 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 prtnccps, 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 occu"ring among some two hundred examined. Now, Mr. Pierce's labels were ordinary tags, and they were notoriously loosely tied. Many came od' entirely, and his lot of birds from Texas is said to have lain in the drawers 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 eyplanation than to assume that an Ipswich Sparrow was found two hundred and 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 sue' in excursion is not impossible, but it is scarcely con- ceivable that a northern, coast-frequenting species would make sucii a trip for pleasure, while a storm theory is hardly tenable, l)ecause storms carry 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 seasonal appearance in considerable numbers of Passt'/culus pn'nccps along our New England coast, cannot fail to prove of the utmost practical value to the ornithologist, anil rellectant of 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 tiu* coast. Has been met with from Prince Edward's Island and N(!W llam|ishire to Long Island." " Prince ICdward's Islanil " must be a slip of the pen, for tlie 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 NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. point to its regular migratory appearance along the Atlantic coast of New England in considerable numbers." Dr. Coues in the same year contributed an important paper, containing the bibliography and synonymy of the species to date, as well as that of Baird's Sparrow, with a colored plate of the latter. The year 1878 also marked tiie appearance of the part of Mr. Maynard's quarto work containing a wretched colored plate of ♦ Passcrctilns princcps'' and a complete account of the species, in many respects the best that has ever been published. In the following 3'ear appeared Mr. Jeffries's sketch of the bird as observed at Swampscott, Mass., chiefly during the autumn of 1878. It is an important contribution, although perhaps a little too dogmatic in some of its statements wliich are not entirely borne out by the facts. An argu- ment against the specific distinctness of princcps 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 it^nvAW. princcps is of the size of the male savanna, while the male princcps 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. Hy 1882, the Ipswich vSparrow 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 princcps) must now take its place among the common autumnal migrants of southern Maine, though restricted, so far as I am aware, to the seacoasl. In the spring, however, it is uncommon if not rare. Since the capture of tiie lirst Maine specimen* Marcli 20, 1875, I have seen but two otiier spring specimens. These I found upon Old Orcliard Beach, March 28, 1882, and one of them is now in iny collection. In their autumnal migration the birds reach Cumber- land County al)<)ut Oct. 13, remaining at least until Nov. 6, later than whiclj I have never looked for tliem. Upon almost any day between these ilates the collector may lind a dozen or more indiviiluals along the sandy sliore between Scarborough Beach and the Saco River." (Bull. N. 6. C. VII, 190.) In 1883 Mr. M. Chamberlain recorded a flock of about twenty (a number far exceeding anything ever recorded elsewhere) seen on Ajiril 11, near St. John, N. B. In the same year Mr. M. K. Job wrote that '• Ipswich Sparrows can at h'lst be ranked almost as common birds upon our seacoast in the late fail. Last year 1 saw them first on October 28, in Boston Harbor, and for about a month found more spcci- "•See Rod and Cun. Vol. VI. p. 65 [ -- p. 81]." THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 31 mens than I could possibly desire to shoot. The main body leaves us late in November, but stragglers are occasionally found during the winter." The following paragrapli, published in the July, 18S4, number of ' The Auk' by Mr. R. Ridgway, has been productive of good results: "The National Museum possesses a considerable series of eggs labelled '■Passcr- culus savana. Sable 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 the 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 tiie eggs and the ' Gray Bird ' was not established without leaving a margin of doubt. Meanwhile ^Passcrcuins princeps' became '' Ainmodramus princeps' in 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, aiul linally to Georgia by Mr. Worthington 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 Brunswick and Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton Island, which has also been visited by Messrs, F. II. Allen, F. BoUes, W. Faxon, and R. Ilofl'man, but none have been found. Hence it becomes extrenu'ly probable that the Ipswich Sparrow is an island species, conlined 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 tlie probability of Sable Island being its sole breeding ground. It may therefore be considered a good example of an islaml species, probably related at one time to tlu; Savanna 32 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. Sparrow of the mainland by ties that cannot now be traced. During the migrations it is often associated with the Savanna Sparrows, but unlike them it is strictly littoral by habit. But two instances have come to my knowledge (disregarding the more than doubtful records from Texas and New Hampshire), where the bird has been captured out of hearing of the surf, — one ten miles inland near New Haven, Conn., by Dr. Bishop (Auk, VI, 1889, p. 199), and one at Cambridge, Mass., by Mr. Charles R. Lamb. Their pallid colors are undoubtedly due to environment, as their whole life is spent among hillocks of bleached and drifted sand. Even from the most verdure-clad valleys of Sable Island, where they preferably abide during the breeding season, it is but a step into a desert, and although occasionally found at other seasons along the rocky coasts of the mainland, it seems probable tluit 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. Tliey have frequently been observed to fall dead while flying, and the children have attributed their death to the expansive force of the corn-meal they have eaten ! Mr. Boutilier tells me the ' Gray Birds' begin to diminish in numbers early in September, and it is probable the great majority leave Sable Island late in the autumn, scattering southward along the New England shores. Here some linger through the winter, but the bulk presses farther south; autl hirtls liave been found, wiien careful search has been made, even as far south as Georgia, where two have been taken in January at the mouth of the Altamalia River. There are no autumn or w <'r records for any point north of Portland, Maine, and, it may be added, there are very few spring records for New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. The birds seem to winter chiefly 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 flving trips made to tlie 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 probably 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 Y(M-k, at very nearly the same time or periiaps 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 tiieir 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. 33 they pass northward late in March and during the first week in April. They 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 taken 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, judging 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 tliis 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 are 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 5 34 MKMOIRS OF TMK NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. allows a near approach, and presently takes wing, sometimes with a single chirp, oftener Hying silently and rapidly long distances before dropping to the ground The more actively they are pursued, the wilder they become and the further they will fly each time they are flushed, and tiie fa ter they seem lo run tVom the spot where the breathless collector expects to find them. They often permit you to come within a few yards of them when fn'st disturbed, and they never spring from under your very feet, probably because they start to run away the moment you are observed ; but after once Hushing them it is by no means certain you can put them up a second time. I have sometimes seen them alight on bushes or trees or fences, but on these rare occasions they have generally been with flocks of Savanna and other Sparrows not far from treeless wastes of gently rolling sand-hills. Sometimes the}- are found on salt marshes, but they seem much to prefer dry, open sand-lnllocks well covered with grass, or the depressions among them. On Sable Island, as might be expected, they were comparatively tame, although even there not permitting a very close inspection. They watch you, especially when singing from tlie tops of tiie sand-hills or the bushes, with evident suspicion, and as there is no cover they are not easily stalked. When you approach, they become restless, repeatedly crouching down as if about to fly, bobbing up again, and, finally, eitlier slipping quietly down the opposite side of the sand-hill, or more frequently standing their ground until you are within a few yards. Meanwhile their uncertainty ot mind is voiced by occasional siiarp chirps, and presently they suddenl}' depart with brisk, undulating flight, Ibllowing the inecpialities of the ground until hidden by a distant hill. If pursued from place to place, they soon become very wary and will fly until they 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 Crowberr3s the head nodding like a pigeon's, the tail raised at a slight angle with the back. They indulge in sundry little hops and flirtings of the wings and tail when they hasten their steps to overtake some luckless insect, but their every movement is deli!^'*rate as compared with the racing gait with which we associate thetii 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 find refuge at night from the penetrating, fog-laden air. When Fcen against this dark green background the birds looked very pale, while contrasted with the sand over wh'.v;h they ran or flew they THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 35 appeared obviously darker. The fact that I seldom t'oiind them on the half-naked sand-hills might argue against their pallid colors, but we must remember that most of them spend only a small part of their lives amid the oases of Sable Island. It was impossible to pry much into their domestic affairs, they were so retiring. All seemed to be mated at the time of my arrival, and they appeared to take life very quietly. The demeanor of the males, when paying court to their admiring mates, was largely a parade of bowings and flutterings, accompanied by a low murmuring chirruping. Only once did I actually catch the males quarrelling among themselves; but towards the end of my stay I secured several with heads so denuded of feathers that it was evidently not a question oi' whether they had been fighting, but of how much. Very little solicitude was displayed in regard to their nests. The males seem to give notice of a stranger's approach. Your attention is perhaps attracted by mild and deliberate tc/ups 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 expostulate 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 you such torrents of abuse as you often receive at the hands of other species. It is most difficult to detect the females leaving the nest, unless incubation is considerably advanced, but at this period they sit very closely and, only when nearly trodden upon, will they llulter away, feigning injury. SoNii. I well remember the first morning on the island. The sun was feebly stjuggli'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 1 soon detected those for which I had travelled far, and spied an Ipswich Sparrow^ singing away on an adjacent sand-peak, quite 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 Sprrrow — nor was I disappointed. It was gratifying to know that the bird really could sing, for it is one of the most silent of our winter visitors, its sole note being a sharp, dry fn'ijt uttered on rare occasions. Both sexes make use of this note on Sable 36 MKMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. Island, only far more frequently. It is an everyday salutation thcrj, as much as to say, " Here I am, what do you want, ehf" It is pitched a little lower and modified to a tcK\p, when the birds are anxious about their nests, and when the males are quarrelling, or paying court to the females, it degenerates into a r "'ng chatter. None of these notes are loud, and the full song is not muc. > be proud of, musically considered ; and yet, com- pared with that of the Savanna Sparrow, it is a more polished and tuneful elFort. Those win) know the song of this bird may gain some idea of that of tlie Ipswich Sparrow when I sjiy that the song oi princrps is keyed a little lower and finished up with more of a trill. Analyzed, it consists of three parts, and usually occupies a short two seconds in its delivery. It begins with two or tliree rapid, introductory notes, thin, high-pitched, and slightly sibilant, occupying perhaps one quarter of the entire time ; these ;'.ve followed quickly by a prolonged, still more sibilant, grassho]iper-likc lisp, that consumes five eighths more of the time, and the song concludes, with- out pause, in a trill (keyed very like the note of the little tree-toad, /f\la pickcn'nf^ii), on the lirst part of which considerable emphasis is jilaced, the t'Uil fadi:ig out with interrogative inflection. Even in calm weather, the song is tjuite 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 representation of the song would be ."something as follows, the spaces between the vertical lines repres<.'nting roughly ipiarters of a second : t»'i}t- \ tit'ip- | t'n \ «)'- | <% | 5- | ?- | pr-rf'-S-a/i. The finishing trill is usually swung out with a vim, unlike the weaker, higher-pitched tinkle of A. s. savatitKit 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, diflVritig in quidity, force anil length of tone not only frnm their neighbors' efforts, but sometimes fronj their own. On thr whole, there are lew variations. Sometimes the number of introthi'tory note:i in 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 chnn» in rcpeateil several times in the minute, but rarely lor more than a few minutes at a time, when the singer either seeks a new perch or devotes him- self for an iiulcfinite periiul to the ipu-sl lor lood. They sing at irregidar intcr- vids, the favoiite hour being at on the bird as, slijiping from tlie nest, she lluttered away along the ground. It was in a liny clump of budding bushes and grass, and contained live eggs, probably two thirds incubated. vShortly before my departure I found the beginnings of several other nests, marked by the cbaracti-rislic little cups made in tlie sand by the birds, in some of which a few grass-blaiK'H had been deposited. One was in Ihi- 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 below. All the nests seem U) be carefully concealed, and there is so much ground over which they may be scattered that it is no easy matter to secine then). I am told that tlic more favored nesting sites are steep, grassy slopes, terraced often by /igxagging cattle p.itlis, where ample |.ioiection is aflortled behind the lattice-work of bleached and slorm-matlejj grasses. Kverywhere 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 ciiosen. No matter where siluiited, each nest is place«l in a ctip-shaped hollow about lour inches in dianuler and fully two in depth, scratched in the sand by the birds. It is compactly woven, and well calculated t<» keep s now befori* me. To mistise a term, I might say that the eggs intergraile ; aiul we should naturally expect northern-breeding sai'unutt to lay even larger eggs than those of this set. However, I now have before me live autlu'iitic sets of A»ntnotira»ius /»r/nc<'/>s, two with llvi' eggs, an»l three with four, ' iking twenty-two eggs in all, fronj which I derive the following nu-asurem .its: — Average size, 2t.6mm. (.85 in.) x 15.5 nun. (.61 in.). Extrenu'8 of length, 33.1 mm. (.91 in.) to 2U.3 nim.(.Hu in.). Extreme.s of diameter, 15.7 mm. (.6a in.) to 15.2 mm, (.60 in.). They average a little liirger Ih 1 the eggs of .1. s. savttunii, from which they are otherwise indistinguishable, and .ley resemble the eggs of sevi-ral other Sparrows. The grouiul c ior is bluish (U' grayish white, often so washed with brown as to appear olive brown, and usually so splashed and sprinkled with dilVerent shades of umber and vandyku brown as almost to conceal the color of the sludl. There are also purplish aiul grayish brown markings that are less apjvirenl on njost of the eggs than arc the bolder blolchcH of the deeper browns that in the majority of Cfises aggregate about the larger end uid form tlu're a ring. A good u'any of the eggs have besides a few irrigiil.ii lim lines (as if done with a pen) of deep brown. The «'ggs of the s.inu- s( t will vary much in coloration, and several very brown anti lili|{htly spotted eggs may be associated with a blui<4h bloli bed egg that looka nR if it belonged to some other set. The shape is usually ovate, but in one set the eggs are long and slender. 40 MEMOIRS OF 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. —Sable Island, N. S., June 4, 1894. ^frS"^ — (our, nearly fre.sh, 21.6 x 15.2, 21.8 x 15.7, 2I.O X 15.2,21.8 X 15.5 mm. A>.v/ — outside depth 89; outside diameter 127 ; inside depth 46; inside diameter 57 mm. Materials— co;\Yst weather-stained grasses and a little eel-grass; lined with the bleached and delicate blades of a sedge ( Carex). ,S7/r — 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. Nkst B. — Sable Island, N. S., June 4, 1894. BiTff^ — iowr, slightly incubated, 21.3 x 15.2, 21.0 x 15.2, 20.6 x 15.2, 21.8 X 15.8. iV"«/ — outside depth 57 ; outside diameter 121 ; inside depth 41 ; inside diameter 57. Afattriah — coinHC grass, weed stems, and a little green moss; lined with the pale slender blades of a sedge. Sitf — in the midst of a clump of Crowberry on a slope near a fresh- water pond. Nkst C — Sable Island, N. S., June 4, 1894. £f!:gs^(owv,n\\g\\{\y incubated, ai.6 x 15.8, 21.8 x 15.5, 22.3 x 15.8, ao.6 X 15.5. iV«/ — outside depth 76; outside diameter 121 ; inside depth 45 ; inside diameter 57. Afatftia/x — C()i\r»v beach-grass, other dark, weather-stained grasses, stalks of everlasting and other weeils, and bits of gnen nioss ; linetl with fine, bleached sedge, a few horse-hairs, and bunches of u softer huir, prob- ably from cattle. St'fg — in a thicket of rose bushes on dry, hummocky ground. Nkst D.— Sable Island, N. S., June 8, 1894. ^JW — '^ve, slightly incubated, 23.1 x 15.3, aa.9 x 15.2, aa.6 x 15.3. tyt X 15.5, aa.9 ^ »S«a. THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 41 Nest — outside depth 76; outside diameter 114; inside depth 51 ; inside diameter 51. Materials — dead grass and weed stems and a little green moss ; lined 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. Ei^i^-s — ^\v^^ much incubated, 20.6 x 15.8, 20.6 x 15.2, 20.3 X 15.5, 20.6 X 15.8, 20.8 X 15.8. Nest — outside depth 64 ; outside diameter 102 ; inside depth 45 ; inside diameter 64. Materials — dead weed stalks ; lined with fine blades of sedge and a few horse-hairs. Site — in hummock of blueberry bushes and rose bushes mixed with dead grass and growing sorrel. Nkst F. — Sable Island, N. S., June 11, 1894. Nest (deserted) — outside depth 70; outside diameter 102 ; inside depth 45 ; inside diameter 64. Materials — coarse, dead grasses and weed items ; lined with fine blades of n sedge and some bits of soft hair. Site — under edge of sod, on a sloping bank. Food. I am iiulebtod to the Department of Agriculture for tlie results of the examination «)f the contents of lifty-six stomachs, all, save thirteen, of my own collecting. A summury of this material is as follows : — Animiit I'fgrttiNi' Gravel, tt: matttr, 1^ mtitter, '/„ {thit/ly utfht), hodius hujuinaltis and A/niis ^rimf/'s. Cf. Cones, 3d instal. bibliog., Hull. U. S. Surv. Terr. V, 1879, no. .\, p. 637, 1880. 1869-70. Am.kn, JoKt, AsAi'H. Notes on .some of the Rarer Ilirds of Massachu- setts.— Amer. Nat. Ill, pp. 513, 631, 632. Also, 1869, pamphlet. leptiged, pp. 9, 32-34. A more exteniled notice tjun Mi. Maynard's upon the capture of the supposed Centronyx hainlii. 1870. Maynard, Chari.ks Johnson. The Naturali.st's (luide in collecting and pre- servin;; objects of natural history, with a compiile catalo^nie of (ho |tird.s of Ka.stern Massachu.setts. Ity C. J. Maynard. Willi ilhistratioiis by v.. \.. Weeks. Iloston : Fields, ( )s}rood, \- Co. 1870. umo. Part II. Catalogue of the Ilirds of Kastern Massachusetts with notes rebitive to their mij^ration, habits, etc., etc. pp. 112 117. An oiiginal desciiplion with a frontispiece of the type specimen of ,'tmm,',fi,imi,s f:iiig he was redescribing C,Hh,>nyx hairJii. There is also a pen picture of the Ipswich Kunrnith. Club, HI, p. 10.'. kepetition of the original record (see previous title). Cf. Coues, jd instal. bibliog., Itull. U. .S. .Surv. Terr. 1879, V, no. 4, p. 044, 1880. 1878. Mavnark, Charles John.son. The Birds of Florida with the Water and Game Birds of Eastern North America, by C. |. Maynard. Illustrated. C. A. Walker, Ikiston. C. J. Maynard iV Co., Newtonville, Mass. 1878. 4to. part iv, pp. loi, 102. < >i\e of the most conipleli: accounts of the species ever published. Cf. Itull. Nuttall Ornith. t lub. Ill, p. 145. nvievv by J. A. A |llenl, 187H; Coues, llirds of the Colorado Valley (Itibliographical .\ppendi.x), p. 69J, 1878; Maynard, The llirds of Kasleni North .America, etc., 18S1. 1878. [Smuhsonian report for 1877. J Among li.Ht of donations for 1877 ix one skin of " l\\ssercHlus fm\ a large nunil>er of specimens and discussion of the relation of the species to the Savanna .Sparrow. Cf. /.oologischer .\nzeiger, II, p. J17, 1879; Zoologisciier Jahre.sbericht flir 1S79, p. 1158, t88o; Zoological Record for 1879, p. 54; Coues, jd instal. bibliog., Hull. LT. S. Surv. Terr. 1879, V, no. 4, p. 645, 18S0. 18S0. AnnoTT, WiLMAM L. Passerculus princcps in New Jersey. — Forest and Stream, XIV^ Feb. 19, p. 44. First record for New Jersey (Seven Mile lieach). Cf. Hull. Nuttall < >rnith. Club, V'l, p. 49, 1881. 1880. RiOGWAY, Robert. A Catalogue of the Birds of Nortli America. — I'roc. U. S, Nat. Museum, III, pp. 178, 217. 1880. VVoor,sEY, George. The Ipswich Sparrow {Passerniliis priiiif/>s) at New Haven, Conn. — Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, V, p. 121. Cf. Zoologi-scher Jahresbericht fUr iSSo, IV Abtheilung, p, 2ji, 1881. 1881. Maynaki), Charles Johnson. The Birds of Eastern North America; with original descriptions of all the species which occur east of the Mississippi River, between the Arctic Circle and the Gulf of Mexico, with full notes upon their habits, etc., by C. J. Maynard ; containing thirty-two plates drawn on stone by the author. Revised Edition. Newtonville Mass. : C. J. Maynard & Co. 188 1. 410. pp. 10 1, 102 ; pi. III. A reissue, in board covers, of the first edition of this work, vid* 1878. 188 J. RiDGWAY, RoiiFRT. List of special desiderata among North American Birds, — Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, IV, p. 21 1. 1881. Scott, Willfam Eari.e Dodge. The Ipswich Sparrow {Passerculus f' ^'' J"''"' N- "• C/: Zoologischer Jahresbericht fUr iSsj, IV Abtheilung, p. .77, 1884. 1883. Chamiierlafn, Montague. Ornithological Notes. — Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. N. B. no. 2, p. 40. Duplicates the record just cited. 1883. Di^TCHER, William. Ipswich Sparrow. — Ornithologist and Oologist, VIII, p. 48. Eight specimens taken on tircat South ISeach, Long Island, N. V. C/. Auk, II, p. 99, 1883. Grifeing, Moses BowDiTcii. Ipswich Sparrows. — Ornitholodst and Oolo- gist, VIII, p. 22. Three specimens taken at Shelter Island, N. Y. C/. Auk, TI, p. 97, 1885. 1883. Jo". Hkrhert Keightlev. Notes on some of the \\'inlcr Birds of Massa- chusetts. — Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, VIII, p. 148. 1883. Samuels, EnwARD Augustus. Our Northern and Eastern Birds. ... 8vo p. 581. cy. edition of 1870, of which this is a retitled reprint with a supplement, but without corrections, and a dozen years behind the times. 1883. Smiiii, Everett. The Birds of Maine. With Annotations of their Com- parative Abundance. Dates of Migration, ilrceding Habits, etc. — Forest and Stream, XIX, Jan. 1 1, p. 466. The Ipswich Sparrow is said to bo " not uncommon along the coast in autumn, but comparatively rarely seen in spring." THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 49 1883. W. A. Winter Birds. — Forest and Stream, XX, March 15, p. 124. All Ipswich Sparrow shr Birds in their Haunts: a popular treatise on the birds of Eastern North America. By Rev. J. Hibbert Langillc, M. A. [Verse]. Bo.ston : S. E. Cassino & Company. 1884. i2mo. p. 199. IJriuf mention of the Ipswich Sparrow. 1884. Merriam, Clinton Hart. Breeding of Passerculus princeps on Sable Island. — Auk, I, p. 390. First rocoril for Nova Scotia; a specimen of the liirtl olitaiiicd during the summer. C/. Zoologischer Anzeigor, VIII, p. 229, 1885; Zoological Record for 1884, p. 47, 1885; ZoologLscher Jahresbericht fUr 1884, 'V Aljtheilung, p. 323, 1SS6. 1884. RiDGWAv, Ror.EKT. The Probable Breeding-place of Passerculus princeps. — Auk, I, pp. 292, 293. Attention is directed to the large size of eggs from Sable Island, N. S., sujjpo.sed be of /;. J-. savanna. Cf- Zoological record for 1884, P- 47. '885 ; Smithsonian report fi 1884, pt. II, p. 357, 1885. to port for 1885. BisHoi', Louis B'NNett. Ipswich Sparrow. — Ornithologist and Oologist, X, p. 30. Two specimens shot, presumably near New Haven. 1885. DuTCHER, William. Bird Notes from Long Island, N. Y.— Auk, II, pp. 36,37- Many specimens in winter at Fire Island Inlet and Shinnecock May. 1885. DwioHT, Jonathan, Jr. The Ipswich Sparrow {Passerculus princeps) in Delaware. — Auk, II, p. 105. First record for Delaware. Cf. Zoologischer Jahresbericht fUr 1885, IV Abtheilung, pp. 187, 233, 1887. 1885. [Jencks, Fred T.] The ipswich Sparrow in Rhode Island. — Random Notes on Nat. Hist. II, p. 17. First record for Rhode Island. Cf. Auk, III, p. 272, 1886. 1885. Ridgway, Robert. Some Emended Names of North American Birds. — Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. VIII, p. 354. The name /4iww£»(//-(/w/« /ri«tv/j Is adopted. $0 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITifQLOGICAL CLUD. 1885. [Smithsonian report for 1883], pp. 221 and 331. (lift to tlif National Museum of twelve specimens in the (lesh uiid one okin of the Ipswich Sparrow by Mr. William Dutcher. 1885. [Smithsonian reiwrt for 1884], pt. II, p. 145. Gift of the twelve specimens mentioned in previous report, again recorduil. 1886. Allen, Joel Asaph. A Revised List of the Hinls of Massachusetts.— Hull Amer, Mus. Nat. Hist. I, no. 7, p. 251. llysome slip of the pen it is .stated that the Ipswich .Sparrow "has l.ten met with aloujr the coast from Prince Edward's Lslan.l to Delaware." It has never l.eeu taken on I'rince hdward Island. IHK6. Ami-hican Ornitholoc.ists' Union. The Code of Nonicnclalurc and Check- List of North American Mirds Adopted l)y the Anurican Ornilholopists' Uiuon being the report of the Committee of the Union on Classification and Nomenclature [Quotation] New York American OrnitholoLMsIs' Union 1886, 8vo. p. 265. /fjww,.,/,-,,/,//,/ /r,>,,r/j is given, with its habitat " Atlantic coast, from Nova Scotia south, in winter, to Virginia." 1.SS6. DurcHKR, William. Bird Notes from Long Isl.ind. - Auk, III, pp. 44,, 44,. An account o(A./t, which is •• relegated to the coninionpl.i.e " on Long Island. 1886. Go(,nALK, Jo.sEi'H Lincoln. Wintering of the White-throated and Ipswich Sparrows in Maine — Auk, 111. j). 277. Two taken, January aj. between Tinu Point and Old Orchard. 1886. Junes, T. [= John] Matthew. Occurrence of the Ipswich Sparrow Ummo- animus />nnif/>s)\n Nova Scotia.- - Auk, III, p. 135. ,36. One shot at laurciuetown. near Halifax, about the end of March. 1878; firs! record for the mamland. C/. ZoologUcher Anieiger. l.\. p. 51 1. 1886. 1886. SKNNKrr, Gkorok Burritt. Ipswich Sp.irrow in Texas.- Auk, III, pp. ,35, 'Hr. improbability of this .i.ecimen having really come from Tcxo. ha> b««i. dUcuated in the foregoing pages (pp. a8, J9). «-u»««iu 1887. CuAMnKHiAiN. M..N.Aot'R. A Catalogue of Canadian «ird«, with Notcs On the IJistribution of the Species. Hy Montague Chamherlain. Saint fohn N. H. J. & A. McMillan, 98 I'rince William Stieit. 18.S7. 8v.). p. 8 s. ' "This specie, has lK,eniakrn in New llr,.n.wl. k and P,ln... Idwa.d Island durina the sp.ing migration, and has i-een found b.ee.lintt on .Sable Isla-ul. ..(T the All, t ? Edwa;:! Island '"•'•■ ^' '^'''""' """'• ""' '^''^'' •"» "•*•' '"-' '-'»'«'" <'"I'S 1887. KiiHiWAV, koiiEKT. A Manual of North AlfMrletn Birds, fly Holurt Kida- way Illu.Htr.itod l.y 464 outline tlrawingi of th«K«n«ric characterM. Phil ttdel|)hia : j. M. Lippincott Company. 1887. Uijt 8vo. p. 407. 1H88. C11AM1.KKLAIN, MoNiAuur A SyMcmaiic Tal.l.. of Canadian Hirdji. HyMon tagne ( haml.erl.iin Saint John, N. II. Puhlished for the Author. 1888 Koyul quarto, p. 10. f THE IPSWICH SPARROW. 51 I.S88. Cooke, Wfxls Woudbridok. U. S. Department of Agriculture. Division of Economic Ornitholo};)-. iJulletin No. 2. Report on llird Mij^ration in tlio Mississippi Valley in the years 18S4 and 1885, ijy \V. VV. (.'ooke. Kdileil and revised by Dr. C. Hart Merriam. Washington: Government I'rinting Oflke. 1888. 8vo. p. i88. Doubt expressed regarding the bird recorded from Texas (6/. Seiinett, 1886). 1888. JoRPAN, Davio Starr. A Manual of the Vertebrate Animals of the Nortliern 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 s|M'cies by David Starr Jordan President of the University of I rxliana I'iflh edi- tion entirely rewritten and mucii enlarged Chicago A. C M-^Clurg and Company. 1888. lamo. p. 286. 1888. SnARi'E, Richard Bowdler. Catalogue of the I'asscriformes, or Perching Hirds, in the t't)lleclion of till' Uritish Museum. I-ringilliformes : Part III. (!ontaining the Family KriiiL^illida'. l{y R. IJowdler Siiarpe. London: Printed by order of the Trustees. 1888. 8vo. pp. O79, 680. — Forming Vol. XII of ' Catalogue of the Hirds in the Hritish Museum.' ConLiiiiii H)'iuinyniy uiul an elaliurate (leMCtiptioii of this species. 1 888. ToKkEv, IJRAliKoRn. A November Chronicle. — Atlantic Munihly I.XII. Nov- ember, 1888, pp. 592 -594; reprinted (with other sketches; in 'A Ramliler's Lease' (1889). pp. 131, 13a, 133, 136, 137. 1889. American OuNrnioi.otiisTs' Union. Check-list of North American Hirds According to the ('anons of Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists* Union .Abridged edition Revised Published i)y the American Orni- thologists' Union 1889 8vo, pampliiet, p. 48. 1889. Hisiior. Lotus Rknneit. [Specimen taken ten miles from the sea. in Con- necticut.] — Auk, VI, p. 199; also at p. 4 of pamphlet rcptinted utuler title 'Al)stract of the Procee»iings of the Linn.ean Society of New York City, for the official year 1888-89.' 1889. IlKowN, Nathan Ci.irKoRn. Supplementary Notes on ilirds of Portland and Vicinity. — Proc. Port. Soc. Nat. Hist., June 14, 1889, p. 39. I'lililtshcd UN a siippti'nirni In it luinitiiu of Ihu rMSi llxl, tli« ei lutiim rin p. ^7 Iwing canli'il fuiward lo p. (o. 18H9, Davik, Oiivkr. Nests and K4Jgs of North American Ilirds by Oliver Davio. 'third Kdition, Revised and Augmented Introduction i«y J. Parker Norris. lllustrati II. pp. 2 11. J I J. " • H.»i ..Monl fn, (i,....Kla ('/: Almir. I'lo, |.l„„ Soc N, V.. p, 0. I«g0 frvMlilion in P .oi. IS.,, (duHLatioi, of M,. Wor ,M.on', r,.cor,l), Mn^^t.^Xi k X !. ,6 .'sJi (».«plai.ailon of ihndoublu r«ior.|), /.,M.|oui,chrr An*d«,:r. \V|. p , ,.;. ,S.', * ' i89«- ""••',''^' ';'«'^'^,'J' ;»'•"' l'«|uin»c.iul on the Ip.wich DtuuH. .\tl.,„,i, Monthly. I.XVIII, . 25. Anionn the species foiiiul elsewliere in Maine, bill not in Audroscogj^in County. 1892. AvERii.i., CiiARLKs Ki.n.iitiM. List of Mirds found in the vicinity of Bridge- port, Connecticut. Prepared for the Mridgcport Scientific So* iety by C. K. Avirill. jr. j.muary, 1H92. Hridgeix)rt, Cnnn. : lUickingham \' Hrewer, Printer.s. 1892. i2mo. |)amph. p. \.\. 189a. Lauren r, Pmi II'. Birds <.f Five Mile IJf.u;h ( New jersey!.— OrnithcilojHtt and Oologisl, WH, p. SS, 189J. SroNK, WiTMKR. Winter Birds of Ca|H.' May, New jersey.— Auk, IX, pp. jo^ 204. 1892. TuKKi'V, ItKAiuiiRii. The Im)oI p.ith Way lly Br.idford I'orrey (Verse and coloplii)ii| Boston and Niw Vork lloughiMn, MiOIin and C(iiii]).iny The Riverside Press. Cambridge 189J >''*ii»- PP- SJ, 54. 1893. Ai.l.KN, joKl. AsAi'ii. I'he (leographical origin .iiid dislribiition of North American Birds considered in relation to I'aun.il Areas of North America. -Auk, X, p. 120. A- fHnttft !■ Iniludml iiniong Uie ii|mmIv<« )M,-long|nK "dintlncllvely " (o ihu "Culd Tcniptraln Sul>iii({i<>n." 1893. AiMiAR, Ai'sriN Chaki. Pocket Key of the Uirds of the Northern Ifniled .St.ites. east of the Ro( ky Mountains. My Austin C. Apgar, Author of 'Trees of the Northern I'niled States.' * Molliisks of the .\ll,inlic (oast,* &c. ritnlon. N, j. I'he John L. Murphy Pub, Co., Printer.s. 1893. i8inu. p. 28. iJIqV HHitWHTKR, Wii i.iam. The Ipswhh Sparrow (.lmmt;^r„mttt f>rntctpi) on thp coast of (ieorgia. -Auk, \, p. j<>2. Itnpliiiitliui of prnvlou* rvt-ortl. QT, iSyo, Wurlhlnglun, y f /.. 1., 1., I,, . Xnuxuei XVI, p, sj.>, iH.,). " • llfj. nrntWHiitR, Wii I iam. Two Corrections. Aiik, X, p. ,)fij(. Ill puil I'lpUiMtory n| iliv iliiuliUi iiHiiid (ill Ut'iiiuU, fo/c iMi/t, Wurlhtngton. 54 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 1894. (JUAi'MAN, Frank Michi.er. Visitors' Guide to the Local Collection of Rirds in the Americ.in Museum of Natural History, New York City. Witli an annotated list of the birds known to occur within fifty miles of New York City, lly Frank M. Chapman, Assistant Curator Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology New York : Printed for the Museum 1894. 8vo. pamph. p. 59. 1894. Stonk, Witmk.r. The Hirds 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 VVitmer Stone Conservator Ornithological Section Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia Philadelphia Delaware Valley Ornitiiological ("lub 1894 8vo. pp. 14, 112, 113. " Winter resident along the sand-hillit of the New Jersey coast, not a))iin(lant though probably regular." 1895. CiiAi'MAN, Frank Michi.er. Handbook of Hirds of Fastcrn North America with Keys to llie Species and Descriptions of their Plumages, Nests, and F.ggs their Distribution and Migrations and a brief account of their Haunts and Habits with introductory chai>ters on the study of Ornithology, how t(i identify Hirds and how to collect and preserve Hirds their Nests and Kggs Hy 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 anti fifty tuts in the text New York D. Applclon and Company 1895 ismo. pp. 291-392. 1895. MiNoT, Henry Davis. [Fxlited by William Hrewster.l The Land- Hirds and Game-Hirds of New F.nglaiid with descriptions of the Hirds, their ncsls and cgg.s, their habits and notes with illustrations Hy H. I >. Minot Second edition Kdited by William Hrewster [(Quotation and vignette | Hoston and New York Houghton, Mifllin ami Company 'I'he Riverside Press, t!ambridge 1895. 8vo. pp. 201 304. (/. original edition 1^77. IhU Necond edition cuntalni valuable annotatlonM liy Iht editor. 1895. Whkiiit, Mauri. Ostuxm. Hirdcraft. A Field Hook of two hundreiiilanl nunilion In a iiopulai wotk. INDKX. AcTiTiii niacularia, i(), nj. Aig\d\\t'\!i tiiL'loihi lirciiniciiiclu, i6, 17. scinipalnKitii, 16, 17. AgroHtis ullia vulgaris, 12. Aniinodniniu.s piiiaeps, 3, 15, 16, 19-21, 34, 27-3' ■ description of, 21, 25. distribution, ji. tgK><. Ji. 37. 39. 40,41, food, 41. haliiiat, 21. lial)ils, ;i3. i)is(()ry, 24. nicasuicnit-nts, 2j, 2G. tni^iaiion, 31. nioidt, jj. ncstii, 34, 37, jS, 40, 41. plumage, 21, 25. sonn, 35. Hynonyiny, 20. Aninuidratnus x. aiaiidinus, 23, 29. i«. savanna, 33, 28, 30, 31, 34, 35, }(>. 39, Ainmophlla arcnaiia, 9, 12, ^}, 37, 40, 41. An.iM olmcura, 16, 19. Arenati.i ^r(rnhindica, 14. peploideN, 14. Aitcophylluin iiodosum, 14. lUVIIKKRY, 13. lluach-grM*. 9, la, 33, 37, 40,41. Mird. Cray, 1,31, 32, 37. Iliids of Salile Island, 16. Illuil'utry, 13, 41. Hum idierry, 13. Hunting, .Siiuw, 26. C'Ai.cARlun lupponitriiH, lA. C(ir««, I », 39, 40. Cat. 13. Cattle, i.fi, t%. ('tint (onyx Initrdll, 3, to. H-»J, JO. Cha'tuia pvlaKi^i. <9' Cliiir.tdriuR titrllcolllii, 17. Cllntatu of Sal)lu Uluiul, 11. Clovvr, K"d, 11, W'hilo, I J. CornuK t MiindvnMln, 13, 41, Cranl(«rry, 13. Cmwlrarry, y, I », 34, 38, 40. DtuKii, 15, 19 lllack, 19. EiL-gnuw, 1 3, 40. Riii|K^truni Milium, 9, 12, 34, 38, 40. Kinpitlonax tiaviventris, 19. Kverlasling, 13, 40. Finch, Western (Irass, 29. Flora of Salile l>land, 12. Pox, 6, 15. Fragaria canadensiH, 1 3. Fringilla, 24. (iNAiMiAi.itiM, 13. (ir:uts, Kt'd tii|), 12. Ifuil, (ireat ISI.uk hacked, 19. IlKfritii^, ly. Kittlwake, 19. llYt.A pickeringii, 36. IrawiCH Haiul-lull.H, 26. Jaki;k.rs, 19. J unco liyenialis, 19. Juncoides campeslre, 12. Juncus lialiicus littoralin, la. Juniper, 9, 12, 34, 38. jtinipuruN nana, 9, 12, 34, 38. Lari;.s argentatu.« Hinithsonlaiius, 19. inarlnuii, 19. Lathynm maritiinus, 13. Lettuce, .Sua, 13. I.idirnii, 13, iH. l.ongs|)ur, l.apl:ind, t6. Mammals of Sable Inland, 14, Meadiiw-rue, 11. MerganHer, KeJbreaatt'd, 19. Mvruanser serralnr, 16, 19. Mltcnella repeUN, 13. MolluHca, 14. MoiiiieN, 13, 39, 40, 41. Myrica carltera, 13, 4*. NvfTiA nyutaa. IJ. Oik ANiiiiKiiMA ItMKorhoa, 19. OdobifnuN rcmmarusi 14, Owl, .Snuwy, ij. r\Nii I'M. IJ. l'arltldg«b«rry, 13. 56 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. ]'as8erculu» maynardi, 21. lirincu|)s, 20, 27, 29,30,31. savanna, 25, 31. Tea, Heach, 13. Pttrels, 19. rhieuni prateiihe, 12. I'hoca graMilaiulica, 1 5. vitiillina, 14. I'lettropliciiax nivalis, 26. I'JDver, liiltud Piping, 17. Seniipalmated, 16, 17. I'onies, .\, 6, 1 5. I'oocxtes graniineus, 25. graniinfus confinis, 29. Potatoes, 14. Kadiui, 15. Rat, 15. Kingncirk, 17. niack, 17. White, 17, 18. Kissa triilactyla, 19. Kockwet'd, 14. Rosa iiitida, 13. Kose-lmshcs, 13, 40, 41. Runic'x acctosL'lia, 13, 42. Rushes, 12. Saiilk Island, birdtt, iC. charts, 5, 7. I liniato 1 1 . nora, 12. histiiry, 5. laki.', 8, 10. ligiitluiuses, 4, 8, II. niamiiials, 14. physical aspect, 9, hhe, 7, 9. Htations, 4, 7. storms, 10, 13. wrecks, 3. (^>< 7- Sandpiper, l.e.ist, ifi, 17, 18. Spotted, i(), 19. Sandwort, 14. Schollera niairocarpa, 13. Seals, 6, 14. Harbor, 14. Harp, 15. Sedges, 12, 39, 40, 41. Sheep, 15. Shore-birds, 19. Sorrel, 13, 41. Sparrow, Haird's, 3, 24, 25-27, 30. Ipswich, see Ammoiircjmiis princepf. Savanna. 28, 31, 34, 35, 36, 39. Western Savanna, 29. Sphagniini, 13. .Slercorariiis parasiticus, 19. Sterna doiigalli, 16. Iiirundo, 16. paradis.ca, 16. .Strawberry, 13. Swine, 5, 15. rKMPKRArilKK, II, 12. Tern, Arctic, 1 6. Common, i6. Tort land, 1 6. Roseate, i6. Terns, 14, 15, 16. Kggs, 16, 17. Thalictrum, 13. Timothy, i 2. Trifolium pratense, 12. repens, 12. Trin|;a minuta, 17. miniililla, lO, 17, iS. Ul.VA, 13. Vaicinh'm pennsylvanicum, 13. Viola oblicpia, 13. laiueolata, 13. Violets, 13. Wai.RI's, 6, 14. Willow, 13. /.uNiii'KiciM A princepH, ai. ZuMteru marina, 13. .*^f *.■ «»