Ammospiza caudacuta
Order Passeriformes
Family Passerellidae
Other names: Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Adult.— Top of head dark brown, with an indistinct gray line through the centre; back brown, the feathers margined with whitish; line over eye and for some distance behind it buffy, separated from a buffy stripe alongside of throat by an ash-gray cheekpatch; under parts washed with buffy (except in midsummer), breast and sides streaked with black; tail-feathers narrow and pointed, the middle pair the longest.
Immature in summer.— Under parts buffy, with very indistinct streaking on the breast.
Nest, of grasses on the ground.
Eggs, pale blue, finely speckled with reddish.
The Sharp-tailed Sparrow is a common, though somewhat local, summer resident of extensive salt marshes along the coast of New York and New England, such as occur along the Arthur Kill, on Staten Island, and at Revere and Ipswich, Mass. It arrives in May, and stays till October. The tall coarse grass (Spartina), called thatch in New England, which grows along the tidal creeks and ditches, is its favorite haunt. When perching, it grasps the stalk with feet widespread, or, when startled, dives down, perhaps to appear on the top of another patch. When feeding in the shorter grass, it runs with head down, like a Savannah Sparrow, or-stands high on its stout legs.
Its song is simple and unmusical; Dr. Townsend has well described it as like “the hiss of hot iron in water.” The male, when singing, frequently mounts a short distance into the air, but more often sings from the top of the grass, or from some post.
It is to be recognized by its rather long bill and by its narrow tail, not square like a Savannah’s, but with the middle feathers longest, but chiefly by the buffy line over the eye and along the sides of the throat. Birds seen from June to the middle of September all have streaked breasts; and this streaking and the buffy cheeks distinguish them from their relatives and companions the Seaside Sparrows. Young birds have less streaking than the adults, but are much yellower below than the Seaside Sparrows.
NOTE.— There is another species of Sharp-tailed Sparrow, the Acadian (Ammodramus nelsoni subvirgatus), which inhabits the salt marshes of New Brunswick, and has been found breeding in Sagadahoc County, Me. It occurs on the rest of the New England coast as a spring and fall migrant in May and October, but resembles the preceding species so closely that only a trained observer, viewing the bird at close range, could distinguish it. A third subspecies (Ammodramus nelsoni) also occurs in October.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)
Back in the early 1900’s the Nelson’s Sparrow was considered the same species.