Family: Emberizidae, New World Sparrows view all from this family

Description 5" (13 cm). Dull olive green head, reddish-brown wings, and streaked breast and flanks.

Habitat Moist or dry grasslands with scattered weeds and small shrubs.

Nesting 4 brown-spotted whitish eggs in a woven grass nest on the ground, usually in a grass clump.

Range Breeds (locally) from Minnesota, southern Ontario, and central New York (rarely New England) south to Kansas, Illinois, and North Carolina. Winters in Gulf Coast states, northern Florida, and along Atlantic Coast to South Carolina. 

Voice   Explosive 2-note sneeze, tsi-lick.

Discussion This sparrow is secretive and mouse-like, skulking low in the grass. It relies on running rather than flying, and is seldom observed unless perched atop a weed stalk uttering its insect-like "song." These birds are sometimes found in loose colonies of up to a dozen pairs, but one to three pairs are more common. Curiously, Henslow's Sparrows may be present in a certain locality and absent from a seemingly similar habitat not far away. The bird was named for John Henslow, a prominent early-19th-century English botanist.