_Fringilla maritima_, WILSON, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 68, pl. xxxiv, f.
2.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, pl. xciii. _Ammodromus maritimus_, SW.
Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 328.—BONAP. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850,
482.—AUD. Synopsis, 1839, 110.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 103, pl.
clxxii.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 454.—SAMUELS, 308. _Fringilla
(Ammodromus) maritima_, NUTT. Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 592.
_Fringilla macgillivrayi_, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 285; IV,
1838, 394; V, 1839, 499, pl. ccclv. _Ammodromus macgillivrayi_,
BON. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 482.—AUD. Syn. 1839.—IB.
Birds Am. III, 1841, 106, pl. clxxiii. _Fringilla (Ammodromus)
macgillivrayi_, NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 593.
SP. CHAR. Above olivaceous ashy-brown; nearly uniform, but with the
centres of interscapular feathers darker and edged faintly with paler;
very obsoletely, almost inappreciably streaked elsewhere, especially
on the head, which has a faintly defined median stripe of purer ashy.
Beneath white; the breast and sides and under tail-coverts with rather
indistinct streaks of dark ashy-brown, tending to form a large spot in
centre of breast; an ashy mandibular stripe continued into the ashy
sides of neck, and cutting off and enclosing a white stripe above it.
A spot of yellow anterior to eye, continued over it as an almost
inappreciable grayish stripe. Edge of wing sulphur-yellow. Bill
lead-color; feet dusky. Length about 6 inches; wing, 2.50. In autumn
the breast and sides tinged with fulvous; the back with rufous.
Young birds (_A. macgillivrayi?_) have markings much more distinct,
and closely resemble _A. caudacuta_, though larger. They will be most
readily distinguished by the absence of the fulvous superciliary
stripe.
HAB. Atlantic sea-coast of United States, northward to Long Island
Sound.
The same seasonal differences in coloration are observable in this
species as in _A. caudacutus_.
HABITS. The Seaside Finch has very nearly the same distribution,
habits, and manners of life, as the Sharp-tailed species, and the
description of these in one would answer almost equally well for the
other. There are, however, certain shades of difference in several
respects to be observed.
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.