from Virginia to Massachusetts; winters from New
Jersey to Florida.

Cambridge, formerly common S.R., but occurs no
longer.

An abundant inhabitant of salt marshes. There is, or was, a colony on
the Hudson River immediately south of the long pier from which Piermont
takes its name, but with this exception I have never seen this Sparrow
beyond the sound of the surf. It runs about through the thick marsh
grasses taking wing only when hard pressed. Its song is short and
insignificant. It nests on the ground, the 3-4 grayish white, finely
speckled eggs being laid in late May or early June.

NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW

_Passerherbulus nelsoni nelsoni_

Resembles the Sharp-tailed but is smaller and has
the throat, breast and sides deeper, very
slightly, if at all, streaked with blackish; the
upperparts more broadly margined with whitish. L.
5-1/2.

_Range._ Nests in the interior from South Dakota
northward to Great Slave Lake; migrates south to
Texas and southeast through New York and
Massachusetts to North Carolina and Florida.

Washington, rare T.V., May-Sept. Ossining,
tolerably common T.V., Sept. 28-Oct. 17.
Cambridge, formerly uncommon T.V. Glen Ellyn, one
record, Oct. 2, 1893. SE. Minn., uncommon T.V.

This is a fresh-water representative of the Sharp-tail which nests in
the prairie sloughs of the interior and reaches the Atlantic coast
during its migrations and in the winter. It resembles the Sharp-tail in
habits and when on the coast, may be found associated with it.

The Acadian Sharp-tailed Sparrow (_P. n. subvirgatus_) is similar to the
Sharp-tailed Sparrow but is paler above; the throat, breast and sides
are washed with cream-buff and indistinctly streaked with ashy. It nests
on the salt marshes of the Atlantic coast from Maine to Cape Breton and
in Prince Edward Island; and winters from South Carolina to Florida. In
general habits it resembles the two preceding.

The three Sharp-tails may be distinguished chiefly by the color and
markings of the breast. In the Sharp-tail these are _pale_ buff
_distinctly_ streaked with blackish. In Nelson's they are _deep_ buff
lightly if at all streaked. In the Acadian they are cream-buff
indistinctly streaked with _grayish_. The Sharp-tail may be known from
the other two by its distinct black marks be