92 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Sept 



34. American Crossbill. Saw two individuals at Bay 

 of Islands. 



35. Redpoll. Saw a flock of six or seven near the Hum- 

 ber River, June 7th. 



36. Savanna Sparrow. Abundant and nesting every- 

 where in spruce bogs. Several nests were found during the last 

 week in June, sunk in "caribou" moss and lined with grasses. 

 We also noted this bird breeding on the graminaceous slopes 

 of Gregory Island, which is nothing more or less than a per- 

 pendicular cliff rising out of the water and situated many miles 

 out at sea. 



3 7. White-crowned Sparrow. Three birds only seen in 

 stunted spruce woods. 



38. White-throated Sparrow. A common resident and 

 abundant breeder. Many nests found on the ground in spruce 

 woods during the first week in June, the sets ranging from two to 

 four eggs. 



39. Chipping Sparrow. Common, especially at Bay of 

 Islands. 



40. Slate-coloured Junco. Not many birds seen. A 

 nest with three incubated eggs was located on the ground in 

 spruce woods, July 18th. 



41. Swamp Sparrow. Only two birds noted. 



42. Fox Sparrow. A very interesting and abuundant 

 species and a wonderful singer. This bird's flute-like notes 

 were heard in the stunted spruce country at all times of the day. 

 The following, by Mr. William Brewster, who visited Southern 

 Labrador in 1881, well describes the song of the Fox Sparrow: 



'What the Mocking Bird is to the south, the Meadow Lark 

 to the plains of the West, the Robin and Song Sparrow to 

 Massachusetts, and the White-throated Sparrow to northern 

 New England, the Fox Sparrow is to the bleak regions border- 

 ing the Gulf of St. Lawrence. At all hours of the day, in every 

 kind of weather late into the brief summer, its voice rises among 

 the evergreen woods filling the air with quivering, delicious 

 melody, which at length dies softly, mingling with the soughing 

 of the wind in the spruces or drowned by the muffled roar of 

 the surf beating against the neighboring cliffs. To my ear the 

 prominent characteristic of its voice is richness. It expresses 

 careless joy and exultant masculine vigor, rather than delicate 

 shades of sentiment, and on this account is perhaps of a lower 

 order than the pure, passionless hymn of the Hermit Thrush; 

 but it is such a fervent, sensuous and withal perfectly-rounded 

 carol that it affects the ear much as sweet -meats do the palate, 

 and for the moment renders all other bird music dull and uninter- 

 esting by comparison." 



