A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3

by Spencer Fullerton Baird; T. M. Brewer; Robert Ridgway

Passerculus savanna, Bonap.

SAVANNA SPARROW.

Fringilla savanna, Wilson, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 55, pl. xxii, f. 2.—Ib. IV, 1811, 72, pl. xxxiv, f. 4.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 63; V, 1839, 516, pl. cix. Passerculus savanna, Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 480.—Cab. Mus. Hein. 1851, 131.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 442.—Coues, P. A. N. S. 1861, 223.—Samuels, 301. Emberiza savanna, Aud. Syn. 1839, 103.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 68, pl. clx. ? Fringilla hyemalis, Gm. I, 1788, 922.—Licht. Verzeichniss, 1823, No. 250. Gmelin’s description, based on Pennant Arctic Zoöl. II, 376 (winter Finch), applies equally well to a large number of species. Linaria savanna, Richardson, List, 1837.

Sp. Char. Feathers of the upper parts generally with a central streak of blackish-brown; the streaks of the back with a slight rufous suffusion laterally; the feathers edged with gray, which is lightest on the scapulars, and forms there two gray stripes. Crown with a broad median stripe of yellowish-gray. A superciliary streak from the bill to the back of the head, eyelids, and edge of the elbow, yellow, paler behind. A yellowish-white mandibular stripe curving behind the ear-coverts, and margined above and below by brown. The lower margin is a series of thickly crowded spots on the sides of the throat, which are also found on the sides of the neck, across the upper part of the breast, and on the sides of body, a dusky line back of the eye, making three on the side of head (including the two mandibular). A few faint spots on the throat and chin. Rest

of under parts white. Outer tail-feathers and primaries edged with white. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.70; tail, 2.10.

Young. Ground-color of the upper parts (except wings and tail) light ochraceous, more brownish on top of head, upper part of back, and on upper tail-coverts; the streaks blacker and more conspicuous than in the adult. Beneath with an ochraceous tinge anteriorly, the streaks broader, and deeper black, than in the adult, though less sharply defined. The infra-maxillary streak expanded into a broad blackish elongated blotch.

Hab. Eastern North America to the Missouri plains, and northwest to Alaska. Cuba, winter (Cab. Jour. IV, 6).

Specimens vary considerably in size, color, and shape of bill, but the average is as described. Spring birds have the markings sharper and clearer, the dark streaks with little or no suffusion of rufous.

Habits. The Savanna Sparrow is an abundant species throughout North America, from the Atlantic sea-board to the Great Plains. It is, however, everywhere much less common in the interior than nearer the shore. The Smithsonian specimens are from points as far south as Georgia and Louisiana, and as far west as the Black Hills of Wyoming. It passes north through Massachusetts, from the first to the middle of April, and some remain to breed in the eastern part of the State. Mr. Maynard speaks of it as a common summer resident. This, however, is true only of a few restricted maritime localities, but is not so of the entire eastern portion of the State. It occurs both in the salt marshes of Charles River and in the vicinity of Fresh Pond, but I could never trace it in any of the neighboring towns. It is occasionally met with in inland situations where we would not naturally look for it. In the summer of 1869, Mr. William Brewster found quite a colony of these birds in an open field near the Glen House, at the foot of Mt. Washington. They had nests with eggs the last of July and the first of August.

In Western Massachusetts, according to Mr. Allen, it rarely or never stops to breed. In Western Maine, Mr. Verrill mentions it as a common summer visitant, and as breeding there in the latter part of May. In the vicinity of Eastport, and in all the islands of the Grand Menan group, I found these Sparrows very abundant. They almost invariably built their nests in depressions on the edge or just under the projecting tops of high bluffs of land near the sea. They were by far the most abundant of the land-birds, and it was quite common to find their nests in close proximity one to another. They arrive there in April, and leave in September, passing slowly south more in reference to the abundance of their food than the severity of the season, until the weather becomes very severe, when they all disappear. They winter in the Southern States, from Virginia to Georgia, and are especially abundant in the Carolinas. Dr. Coues states that they were very common about Columbia from October to April, moving in large flocks and associating with other species. Wilson states that he met with this species, from Savannah to New York, in all the low country, and regarded it as resident in those places, but rarely found at a distance from the sea-shore. He found them especially numerous at Great Egg Harbor, N. J.