_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.
Dr. Coues, in his visit to Labrador, in 1860, found this Sparrow
abundant in that region in low moist meadows and marshy tracts near
the sea-shore, but never noticed it in any other situations. He
frequently observed it there feeding on the beds of dried eel-grass
along the rocky shores, searching for food in company with the
Titlarks and small Sandpipers.
During my visits to the islands of the Bay of Fundy, in one of which I
remained a number of days, I had a good opportunity to notice these
birds. In many respects their habits undergo noticeable changes during
the breeding-season. As they pass north or south in their migrations,
they are not particularly shy or difficult to approach, but when they
had nests they seemed to become particularly cautious and mistrustful.
The male and female sat by turns upon their eggs, but generally one
remained within hailing distance, and always gave promptly a signal of
danger when the nest was approached, at which the other would glide
from the nest, running off on the ground like a mouse. I found it
impossible to identify by shooting the parent on the nest, and only
accomplished its identification by means of snares. When once lost in
the tall grass, it was impossible to find it again, or if it
reappeared it was impossible to tell which of the many chirping
Sparrows, all of them out of reach of shot, and keeping a sharp
lookout on my movements, had any connection with the nest. This
manœuvre was gone through with in every nest I found, but I soon
learned to distinguish them without the need of gun or snare.
This Sparrow is eminently terrestrial, confining itself almost
entirely to the ground, and rarely alighting on anything even so high
as a fence. Though frequenting low moist grounds, its nest is always
in a dry spot and usually somewhat elevated. The nest is almost always
sunk into the ground, is made very simply and loosely of dry grasses,
with a lining of softer materials of the same. I have never found any
other material than this in the many nests I have examined, although
nests of var. _alaudinus_, in the vicinity of Fort Anderson, are
frequently lined with feathers or deers’ hair, according to
MacFarlane.
The eggs, five or six in number, vary considerably in their
appearance. In shape they are a rounded oval, one end being much more
pointed than the other. They measure .68 by .55 of an inch. In some
the ground-color, which is of a greenish-white, is plainly visible,
being only partially covered by blotches of brown, shaded with red and
purple. These blotches are more numerous about the larger end,
becoming confluent and forming a corona. In others, the ground-color
is entirely concealed by confluent ferruginous fine dots, over which
are darker markings of brown and purple and a still darker ring of the
same about the larger end.
Passerculus savanna, var. alaudinus, BONAP.