(_Ammodramus caudacutus_) Finch family
_Length_--5.25 to 5.85 inches. A trifle smaller than the
English sparrow.
_Male and Female_--Upper parts brownish or grayish olive, the
back with black streaks, and gray edges to some feathers. A
gray line through centre of crown, which has maroon stripes;
gray ears enclosed by buff lines, one of which passes through
the eye and one on side of throat; brownish orange, or buff,
on sides of head. Bend of the wing yellow. Breast and sides
pale buff, distinctly streaked with black. Underneath whitish.
Each narrow quill of tail is sharply pointed, the outer ones
shortest.
_Range_--Atlantic coast. Winters south of Virginia.
_Migrations_--April. November. Summer resident.
This bird delights in the company of the dull-colored seaside sparrow,
whose haunts in the salt marshes it frequents, especially the drier
parts; but its pointed tail-quills and more distinct markings are
sufficient to prevent confusion. Mr. J. Dwight, Jr., who has made a
special study of maritime birds, says of it: "It runs about among the
reeds and grasses with the celerity of a mouse, and it is not apt to
take wing unless closely pressed." (Wilson credited it with the
nimbleness of a sandpiper.) "It builds its nest in the tussocks on the
bank of a ditch, or in the drift left by the tide, rather than in the
grassier sites chosen by its neighbors, the seaside sparrows."
Only rarely does one get a glimpse of this shy little bird, that darts
out of sight like a flash at the first approach. Balancing on a
cat-tail stalk or perched upon a bit of driftwood, it makes a feeble,
husky attempt to sing a few notes; and during the brief performance
the opera-glasses may search it out successfully. While it feeds upon
the bits of sea-food washed ashore to the edge of the marshes, it
gives us perhaps the best chance we ever get, outside of a museum, to
study the bird's characteristics of plumage.
"Both the sharp-tailed and the seaside finches are crepuscular," says
Dr. Abbott, in "The Birds About Us." They run up and down the reeds
and on the water's edge long after most birds have gone to sleep.