536 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



l)i\ Coues, in his visit to Labrador, in 1860, found tliis .Sparrow almiidant 

 in tliat region in low moist meadows and marshy tracts near the sea-shore, 

 hut nexev noticed it in any other situations. He frequently observed it there 

 feeding ou the beds of dried eel-grass along the rocky sliores, searching for 

 food in company willi the Titlarks and small Sandpipers. 



Darin" my visits to the islands of the Bay of Fundy, in one of which I 

 remained a number of days, I had a good opportunity to notice these l)irds. 

 In many respects their habits undergo noticeable changes during the breed- 

 ing-season. jVs they ]iass north or south in tlieir migrations, they are not 

 ])articularly shy or diflicult to approacii, but when they had nests they seemed 

 to become particularly cautious and mistrustful. The male and female sat 

 by turns upon their eggs, but generally one remained within hailing distance, 

 and always gave promptly a signal of danger when the nest was approached, 

 at which the other would glide from the nest, running off ou the ground like 

 a nu)use. I found it impossible to identify by shooting the parent ou the 

 nest, and only acconi] dished its identification by meaus of snarcs. When 

 once lost in the tall grass, it was impossible to find it again, or if it reap- 

 peared it was imjjossible to tell wliich of the many chirping Sparrows, all of 

 them out of reach of shot, and keeping a .sharj) lookout on my mo\-emeuts, 

 had any connection witli the nest. This uuinanivre was gone tln-nugh with 

 in every nest I found, but 1 soon learned to distinguish them without the 

 need of gun or snare. 



This Sparrow is eminently terrestrial, conlhiiug itself almost entirely to 

 the ground, and rarely alighting on anything even so high as a fence. 

 Though fi'eiiuenting low moist grounds, its nest is always in a dry spot and 

 usually somewhat elevated. The nest is almost always sunk into the ground, 

 is made very simply and loosely of dry grasses, with a lining of softer mate- 

 rials of the same. I have never found any other material than this in the 

 many nests I have examined, although nests of var. alandinus, in the vicin- 

 ity of Fort Anderson, are freipiently lined with feathei's or deers' hair, 

 according to MacFarlane. 



The eggs, five or six in number, vary considiirably in their appearance. In 

 sliape they are a rounded oval, one end l>eiiig much more ptointed tlian the 

 other. They measure .68 by .55 of an inch. In sonu' the ground-color, 

 which is of a greenish-white, is plainly visible, being only partially covered 

 by blotches of brown, shaded with red and purple. These blotches are more 

 numerous about the larger end, becoming confluent antl forming a corona. 

 In others, the ground-color is entirely concealed by confluent ferruginous 

 fine dots, over wdiich are darker markings of brown and purple and a still 

 darker ring of the same about the larger end. 



