318 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



■''List oi Birds of Western Ontario," in 1882, in which it is men- 

 tioned as " breeding, but rare.'' More recently, Mr. Saunders informs 

 me that it breeds regulai-ly near London. In the spring of 1885, I 

 saw several on the Beach near Hamilton, and it is also reported by 

 ^Ir. Thompson as having been observed near Toronto. 



It is evidently, like some others, making its way into Ontario 

 around the west end of Lake Erie, and all lovers of birds will do 

 well to encourage its progress, for it is a sweet songster and a hand- 

 -some little bird of confiding, pleasing manners. 



Gexus ZONOTRICHIA Swaix.son. 

 ZONOTRICHIA LEUCOPHRYS (Forst.). 



228. White-crowned Sparrow. (554) 



Adul t-i : — Of Ijotli .sexes with the ci-own pure white, eiiclo.sing on either side 

 a broad black stripe that meets its fellow on the forehead an<i descends the 

 lores to the level of the ej'es, and l)oun(led by another black stripe that starts 

 l»ehind the eye and curves around the side of the hind head, nearly meeting its 

 tellow on the nape ; edge of under eyelid, white. Or, wc may say, crown 

 black, enclosing a median white stripe and two latei-al white stripes, all 

 confluent on the hind head. (ienei-al color, a tine dai-k ash, paler below, 

 whitening insensibly on the chin and belly, more l)rownish on the rump, 

 clianging to dull l)rf)wnish on the flanks and crissum, tlie middle of the back 

 streaked with dark purplish-bay and ashy-white. No bright bay like that of 

 nlbicollU anywhere, except some edging on the wing covert and inner second- 

 aries ; middle and greater coverts, tipped with white, forming two bars ; no 

 yellow anywhere ; bill and feet, reddish. Young : — Birds have the black of the 

 head replaced by a very rich warm brown, the white of the head by pale 

 lirownish, and the genei-al ash has a brownish suffusion and the back is more 

 like alhicollis. Length, (J.'i")-/ -. extent, 9.20-10.20; tail, 2.90.3.20. 



Hab. — North America at large, breeding cliiefly in the Rocky Mountain 

 region (including Sierra Nevada) and north-east to Labrador. 



Xest, on the ground among the bushes, composed of grass and weeds, 

 iiitermixerl with nu)ss and lined with tine, hair-like grass and rootlets. 



Eggs, four or five, grf)und color, greenish-blue, heavily clouded with choeo- 

 late-brown. Very variable in jiattern. 



The White-crowned Sparrow is a more northern bird than its 

 white-throated relative, but it does not arrive so early in spring, 

 seldom appearing along our southern border before the first week in 

 May. During the two succeeding weeks, it 'is very common among 

 the brambles and thorn bushes by the wavside. 



