This bird is, if anything, more southern in its distribution than the other, and does not extend its visits in summer so far north. While the Sharp-tailed Finch is not an uncommon bird on the shores of the New England States, as far to the north as Ipswich, the Seaside Finch is comparatively rare, much more so now than it was formerly. Mr. Maynard states that he has searched carefully for it from the Merrimack to the extreme southern shores of Massachusetts without finding any specimens, nor could he find any on the island of Nantucket, a very natural and congenial locality. Dr. Coues states that it is abundant on the New Hampshire coast, but recent endeavors have failed to detect it. In 1836 and 1837 a few isolated pairs built in the marshes of Stony Brook, near Boston, above tide-water, nesting not on the ground, but in low bushes. They were identified by Mr. Audubon.
In the summer of 1852 I found this species very abundant on the low sandy islands of Cape Charles, Va. There, in every instance, their nests
were in low bushes, about a foot from the ground. They were the only land-birds found on these islands.
Rev. C. M. Jones informs me that at Madison, Conn., on the coast, the Seaside and the Sharp-tailed Finches occur in about equal numbers in the salt marshes. He was not able to observe any specific difference in their mode of nesting, except that the maritimus seemed to be more common in that part of the marsh nearest the shore, while the caudacutus was more abundant farther back towards the highlands, though this was not the invariable rule. He sometimes found the nests suspended in the salt grass, the latter being interwoven with the other materials. In all such cases the entrance was on the side of the nest, in the manner of the Marsh Wren. At other times he found the nest placed under a quantity of lodged grass, but resting on a portion still lower. In such cases it is generally open at the top. He has also found them on the ground, and, when thus placed, always much more bulky than when built as above, a considerable quantity of dead grass being laid down to keep the nest above the wet, though not always with success. On Cobb’s Island, Va., Mr. Jones only found the maritimus, the nests of which were in bushes, from one foot to eighteen inches from the ground.
The call-note of this species is said to be a monotonous chirp, and its song hardly to deserve that name. The notes of which it is composed are few, and have neither variety, emphasis, nor attractiveness.
Dr. Coues states that this Finch begins to sing when mating, and is afterwards, during the incubating, particularly earnest and persevering about it. Each pair usually claims some particular copse, and the male usually has his favorite singing-post, to which it continually resorts. He adds that its simple song is something like that of the Yellow-shouldered Sparrow, beginning with a few slow notes, then a rapid trill, finally slurred, till it sounds like the noise made by some of the grasshoppers.
These birds are at all times shy and difficult to be approached. When their nest is visited, the parents leave it and secrete themselves, and cannot be traced without great difficulty. When thus hidden, they will almost suffer themselves to be trodden upon before they will fly up.
Mr. Audubon thinks they have two broods, their first being hatched out early in June. Their nests, he states, are usually placed next to the ground, but not sunk in it. Their food consists of marine insects, small crabs, and snails, as well as small sand-beetles and seeds. Their flesh has a rank, unsavory flavor, so much so that, having had some made into a pie, he could not eat it. He states also that they are resident in the Southern States, and are found along the Gulf coast as far as Texas.
The nest is strongly but coarsely woven of dry sedges, stems, and grasses, and is lined with similar but finer materials. The eggs are five in number, have a grayish-white ground, and are spotted and blotched with reddish-brown. The blotches are distributed over the entire egg, and are much
larger than in the caudacutus. There is, indeed, no similarity between the two eggs. They measure .88 by .68 of an inch.