The three Sharp-tails may be distinguished chiefly by the color and markings of the breast. In the Sharp-tail these are pale buff distinctly streaked with blackish. In Nelson's they are deep buff lightly if at all streaked. In the Acadian they are cream-buff indistinctly streaked with grayish. The Sharp-tail may be known from the other two by its distinct black marks below, but the other two cannot certainly be distinguished from each other in life where both may be expected to occur.
SEASIDE SPARROW
Passerherbulus maritimus maritimus. [Case 6], Fig. 46
An olive-greenish Sparrow, with a yellow mark before the eye and on the bend of the wing; the underparts not distinctly streaked. L. 6.
Range. Salt marshes of the Atlantic Coast; nests from Virginia to Massachusetts; winters from Virginia to Georgia.
In the Piermont marsh, referred to under the Sharp-tailed Sparrow, there are Seasides as well as Sharp-tails, but this is the only place in which I have seen Seasides away from the sea. There they are abundant in the grassy marshes. Their song is weak and unattractive. Like the Sharp-tail they nest on the ground, laying 3-4 white or bluish white eggs, clouded or finely speckled with cinnamon-brown, the latter part of May.
This northern Seaside Finch is migratory, coming the latter part of April and remaining until the latter half of October, but in the South there are several races which for the most part are resident in the same locality throughout the year. Thus we have:
Macgillivray's Seaside Sparrow (P. m. macgillivraii).—Atlantic Coast from North Carolina south to Matanzas Islet, Florida. Dusky Seaside Sparrow (P. nigrescens), an almost black species from Merritt's Island, at the head of Indian River, Florida. Cape Sable Sparrow (P. m. mirabilis), Cape Sable, Florida. Scott's Seaside Sparrow (P. m. peninsulæ), Gulf Coast of Florida from Tampa to St. Marks; Northwest Florida Sparrow (P. m. juncicola) Coast of Florida west of St. Marks; Alabama Seaside Sparrow (P. m. howelli), Coast of Alabama and Mississippi. Louisiana Seaside Sparrow (P. m. fisheri), Coast of Louisiana to Northeast Texas; and Sennett's Seaside Sparrow (P. m. sennetti), Coast of Texas from Galveston at least to Corpus Christi.
LARK SPARROW
Chondestes grammacus grammacus. [Case 7], Fig. 19
The chestnut and white head markings and the white-tipped tail-feathers are conspicuous field-marks. L. 6¼.
Range. Mississippi Valley; nests from Louisiana to Minnesota and Ohio; winters from Mississippi southward; casual east of the Alleghanies, chiefly in the fall.