72 MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



four or five, pale bluish-white, variously marked, splashed and mottled 

 with lilac, chocolate and darker shades. There seems to be no limit to 

 the variation of markings in eggs of the Grass Finch. Food mostly seeds 

 — some insects. Of no harm and probably from its great numbers a very 

 useful species. 



The Lark Sparrow, Chondextes grammacus, I have found only once 

 nesting here at Manchester, though the late dates on which they are 

 occasionally seen, lead me to believe that they quite frequently do breed. 

 On May 20, 1896, I took a set of five fresh eggs and fully identified the 

 female bird which was taken to make positive the find. The nest was 

 upon the ground, in an open field, in a slight depression at the foot of a 

 bitter dock plant. It was composed of grasses and rootlets and very 

 much resembled the usual nests of the Grass Finch. The female bird was 

 so tame that sbe would return to sit upon the eggs, after being flushed, 

 while I was standing within ten feet of the nest. The eggs of the Lark 

 Sparrow are creamy white, penciled and splashed with markings of choc- 

 olate brown and delicate lilac especially about the larger end. They 

 resemble very much those of the Orchard Oriole in size and color. The 

 pencilings upon the eggs also remind one of the markings upon the eggs 

 of the Eed-wing! This is not a common bird, though each spring a few 

 are noted. They arrive in April rather later than most of the sparrows 

 and remain until into May with the last of the Juncos and White-crowned 

 and White-throated Sparrows. 



The Song Sparrow, Mclospha fasciata, is by far the most attractive 

 sparrow that we have. One of the first birds to greet us in March, in- 

 habiting any and all sorts of ground, whether dry or damp, bushy or open, 

 especially seeking the proximity of the farm yard and garden, he pours 

 forth the sweetest, purest praise of spring that comes from all the feath- 

 ered chorus, and when all birds are gay. The nests, composed of grasses 

 and usually lined with finer ones and hair, are situated in bushes, upon 

 the ground, in tufts of grass, in brush piles and even inside of buildings; 

 in fact in every conceivable place. The eggs are five, bluish-white with 

 markings of reddish brown in endless variety. The food of the Song 

 Sparrow is almost wholly of insects if they can be found and the seeds 

 of grasses and weeds. A bird of no bad habits and of inestimable benefit. 



The Grasshopper Sparrow, Ammodramus savannarum passerinus, is a 

 common bird in the hay-fields and yet some very competent observers 

 have never noted its presence owing to its rather shy ways and its gen- 

 eral resemblance, when not specially noticed, to others of its class such 

 as Field Sparrow, Grass Finch, etc., though it is smaller than either. 

 However, if the peculiar, tremulous, balancing flight, very like that of 

 the Spotted Sandpiper, is observed, and the rasping tones of the singer 

 are heard, our attention should be seriously attracted to the odd little 

 bird whose every move is characteristic. It is named Grasshopper Spar- 

 row from the peculiar resemblance of its song to the stridulating note of 

 the grasshopper. It is usually found singing from a windrow of hay, the 

 top rail of a fence, or any prominent object not very high above the 

 ground. This bird, which is increasing in abundance each year, arrives 

 from the south about the first of May, and the first brood is grown before 

 haying time comes, the second being very often destroyed when the 

 grass is cut. The nest is situated upon the ground, close to a tuft of 



