henslow's sparrow (ammodramus henslowii) is a passerine bird in the emberizidae family , which contains buntings , juncos and towhees .
it was named by john james audubon in honor of john stevens henslow .
adults have streaked brown upperparts with a light brown breast with streaks , a white belly and a white throat .
they have a pale stripe on the crown with a dark stripe on each side , an olive face and neck , rust-coloured wings and a short dark forked tail .
their breeding habitat is shrubby fields , often wet , in southern canada , the northeastern united states , and the midwestern united states .
the nest is a well-concealed open cup on or close to the ground in a grassy location; these birds often nest in small colonies .
they migrate to marshes and open pine woods in the southeastern united states .
these birds forage on the ground , mainly eating insects and seeds .
their song is a quick se-lick .
the range and numbers of this bird are decreasing , probably due to habitat loss .
the texas population was solely known from a {convert|105|acre|km2|sing=on} brushfield near houston and disappeared after devegetation due to industrial development in the 1980s .
it was considered a distinct subspecies (a .
h .
houstonensis: arnold , 1983) but is today considered to fall into the range of variation of the nominate subspecies (browning , 1990) .
likewise , the south dakotan population formerly known as p .
h .
occidentalis has been synonymized with the nominate .
the only remaining subspecies generally (but not universally) accepted are the eastern henslow's sparrow and the western henslow's sparrow , whose ranges are for the most part separated by the appalachian mountains .
