NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 



219 



examined. In the table of comparative measurements given below, it will be 

 seen that the specimens from Greenland and Labrador are very nearly of the 

 same dimensions, and also larger than European skins, though the details of 

 bill, tarsus, &c, do not differ materially. It is not impossible that Vigor's 

 bird should be distinct from the S. wnanthe, especially as the measurements,* 

 if accm-ate, would indicate a bird of rather small dimensions for so northern a 

 3 locality ; but at present I cannot but regard the Labrador bird as identical 

 with the European. The question can only be definitely settled by a series of 

 specimens from different localities in both continents. 



Comparative Measurements. 



Regulus calundula (L.) Licht. Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 

 Regulus calendula, Aud., Birds Amer. ii. 168, pi. 133. Baird, Gen. Rep. 226. 



A single specimen, a bird of the year, was obtained at Rigolet, on the 6th of 

 August, shot in a very densely wooded ravine. No other individuals were 

 observed. It is, however, in all probability an abundant bird in Labrador. 



Anthus Ludovicianus (Gm.) Licht. Tit-lark. 



Anthus Ludovicianus, Aud. Birds Amer. iii. 40; pi. 150. Baird, Gen. Rep. 

 232. 



The Tit-lark I found abundant in every locality in Labrador which I visited, 

 and I had ample opportunities of observing its habits during the breeding- 

 season. It is the most numerous of the land birds, with the exception, per- 

 haps, of the white-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys. Some of the most 

 rocky and barren islands along the coast are inhabited only by these birds, 

 with perhaps a solitary pair of horned larks, Eranophila cornuta. It fre- 

 quents only open, bare, and exposed situations, such as the coast of Labrador 

 every where affords, and is never found in thickly wooded localities. 



Two nests which I obtained, were precisely identical in situation, form and 

 construction. Each was placed on the side of a steep precipitous chasm, in a 

 cavity in the earth of about the size of a child's head, into which a little dried 

 moss had been previously introduced to keep the nest from the damp earth. 

 It was composed entirely of rather coarse dried grasses, very loosely put to- 

 gether, with no lining of any sort. The external diameter was about six 

 inches ; the exterior three inches, by two in depth. The eggs were in one in- 

 stance five, in the other four ; their average length, for they varied somewhat, 

 was thirteen-sixteenths of an inch, by nine-and-a-half-sixteenths of an inch in 

 greatest diameter ; of a dark chocolate color, indistinctly marked with numer- 

 ous small lines and streaks of black. 



The parent does not leave the nest until nearly trodden upon ; then she 

 nutters off with loud cries of distress which soon bring the male, though with- 

 out attempting to lead the intruder from the nest by feigning lameness, as is 

 the habit of so many birds. The pair together hover over the head of the in- 



1861.] 



* " Length, 5%; wing, 3%; bill, rictus, %; tail, 2% ; tarsus, 1." 



