At least two nests on the Lavallette Marsh were destroyed by predators in the course of the breeding season of 1955. One nest of the Seaside Sparrow was empty when I checked it on July 3; on July 2 it had contained four young, three days old. On July 21 I found a dead Sharp-tailed Sparrow, approximately three days old, lying on a patch of matted grass. A hole was in the flank of the bird and blood was present about the bill. This nestling was not from a nest under observation.
PASSERINE ASSOCIATES
On the Lavallette marshes the only passerine associates of the two species of Ammospiza were Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia atlantica) and Long-billed Marsh Wrens (Telmatodytes palustris palustris). Two pairs of Song Sparrows and less than six pairs of marsh wrens nested on the study area. One Song Sparrow nest was found and is plotted on the map (pl. 1, fig. b); the other pair nested somewhere along the east shore of the island. The Song Sparrows at the east end of the island obtained most of their food from the grounds of the Lavallette Yacht Club across fifty yards of water to the east. The pair that nested in the western portion of the island fed along the sand fill or along the bases of the marsh-elder. Their nest was built in the most extensive area of these bushes; it was placed approximately one foot above the ground in a small dead bush and gained support and concealment from the surrounding black grass. Three of the four eggs hatched on June 30, and the young left the nest on July 11. Both parents fed the offspring.
The marsh wrens fed and nested in the cattails. I never saw these wrens away from the cattails.
WINTER STATUS AND SPRING MIGRATION
Ocean County is ten miles south of the area treated in Cruickshank's regional work (1942). He considers both species as rare to casual winter residents. Concerning the spring migration of the Sharp-tailed Sparrow he says (p. 456) "The first widespread wave never comes before April 25, however, and most of the birds arrive in May." He mentions that late May is the height of migration and that stragglers are passing through up to the middle of June. The arrival of the Seaside Sparrow in spring is similar (p. 458): the first widespread movement is in early May, the peak is reached in the third week of the month, and stragglers have been recorded through the second week in June.
I was in the field in Ocean County almost daily all spring and found no Seaside Sparrows and only two Sharp-tailed Sparrows north of Barnegat Inlet, Ocean County, before May 5. I waded through the marshes at Chadwick, Lavallette, and Island Beach State Park on April 27 when high tides covered all of the dense vegetation and saw no sparrows of the Genus Ammospiza. If many had been present on this date I would have seen them. On May 5 both species were plentiful on the Chadwick marshes. Furthermore, the Seaside Sparrows were defending territories. The absence of the two species the previous day indicates a large nocturnal flight.
It was during the second and third weeks in May that the sparrows of this genus were most abundant. In this period many unbanded Seaside Sparrows were in the patches of cattails that were being defended by the resident males from other territory-holders.
One Ammospiza caudacuta subvirgata (G. E. W. 545) was taken in the course of the study. It was a female (ovary: 7 x 5 mm.) weighing 15.3 grams ("moderate fat"), taken on June 8, 1955, on a marsh near the mouth of the Manasquan River on the Monmouth-Ocean County line. This marsh is decidedly less brackish than the Lavallette and Chadwick marshes. The specimen was the only Ammospiza seen there and was probably a migrant, despite the late date; this subspecies is known to occur late along the Atlantic Coast south of its breeding range. Cruickshank (1942:454-455) considers the peak of spring migration for this subspecies to be reached in late May.