LARK srAuuow. 317 



' Hah. — KiiHtern United States ami Soutlieiu Caiuula to tlie I'laius, soutli 

 to Floritla, Cuba, Porto Rico and coast of Ceiitial America. 

 Nest, a cup-shaped hole in the earth, lined witli dry grass. 

 Eggs, four or five, crystal- white, speckled witli reddish-brown. 



So far as at present known, the Grasshopper Sparrow is of very 

 rare occurpenco in Ontario, tiie southern border seeming to he the 

 northern limit of its distribution. 



Many years ago 1 killed a jnalc, who was s({ueezing out his 

 wheezy notes from the top of a mullein stalk. Mr. Saunders men- 

 tions having taken one near London, but these two cases complete 

 the record for Ontaiio. 



It is named among the birds found in the North-West by Prof. 

 Macoun, but is not found in Mr. Thompson's list of the " Birds of 

 Western Manitoba." It is much given to concealing itself among the 

 rank herbage, and maij in some localities be a rare stimmer resident 

 in Southern Ontario, but I do not expect to see it liere, except as 

 a casual visitor. 



Genus CHONDESTES Swaixson. 

 CHONDESTES GRAMMACUS (Say.). 



227. Lark Sparrow. (552) 



Head, curiously variegated with chestnut, black and white; crown, chestinit, 

 blackening on the foiehead, divided by a median stripe and bounded by two 

 lateral stripes of white ; a black line through and another below the eye, 

 enclosing a white streak under the eye and the chestnut auriculars ; next, a 

 sharp black maxillary stripe, not quite reaching the bill, cutting off a white 

 stripe from the white chin and throat ; a black blotch on middle of ])reast ; 

 under parts, white, faintly shaded with grayish-browii ; upper parts, grayish - 

 brown ; the middle of the back with fine black streaks ; central tail feathers, 

 like the back, the rest jet black, broadly tipped with pure white in <liminish- 

 ing amount fi-om the lateral pair inward, and tlie outer wel) of outer paii- 

 entirely white. Length, (5.^-7 ; wing, Si ; tail, 3. 



Hab. — Mississippi Valley region, from Ohio, Illinois and Michigan to 

 the Plains, south to Eastern Texas. Accidental near the Atlantic coast 

 (Massachusetts, Long Island, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. )■ 



Nest, on the ground, composed of dry grass. 



Eggs, three to five, wliite, irregularly veined with dark. 



In May, 1862, a pair of these birds was observed near Hamilton, 

 and the male was obtained and shown to me shortly afterwards. 

 I did not hear of the species again till the publication of the 



