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Range (Atlantic coast breeds)

Atlantic coast; breeds from South Carolina to New Hampshire, and winters from North Carolina to Florida.

Cambridge, common S. R., May to Sept.

Nest, of grasses and seaweed, lined with fine grasses, on the ground. Eggs, three to four, white or grayish white, finely speckled with cinnamon-brown, especially at the larger end, 78 x 57.

This species is confined exclusively to the salt-water marshes of our coast, where it may be found in large numbers. It runs about among the reeds and grasses with the celerity of a mouse, and is not apt to take wing unless closely pressed. Mixed flocks of the several varieties of the Sharp-tail, together with the Seaside Sparrow, gather in the fall among the sedges, and may be observed hiding in the grass or clinging to the tall stalks of the cat-tails. In the breeding season it is usually associated with the Seaside Sparrow on the same marsh, but it prefers the drier parts, and 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 neighbor.

From some bit of driftwood or a convenient stake its infrequent song may be heard morning and evening. It is short and gasping, and only less husky than the somewhat similar performance of the Seaside Sparrow.

J. DWIGHT, JR. 549a. A. c. nelsoni Allen. NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW.-Similar to A. caudacutus, but smaller, the upper parts darker, the feathers of the back more olive-brown and more broadly margined with whitish; the throat, breast, and sides deeper ochraceous-buff, very slightly if at all streaked with blackish. "L., 5.50; W., 2.25; T., 1.90; B., 43" (Dwight).