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THE SNOW-BIRD. 



In size, structure, and habit, it is every whit a Sparrow, 

 and quite frequently chooses the various members of that 

 family for its company. Most intimately is the history of 



THE SNOW-BIRD. 



this bird associated with my childhood. I well remember 

 the sunny spring day in Nova Scotia, when, in my boyish 

 delight, I found the first two bird's nests — the first, that of 

 the Hermit Thrush; the second, that of a Snow-bird. Ever 

 after I found the nest of the latter among the most com- 

 mon. Situated like that of the Song Sparrow, generally on 

 the ground and under some protection, rarely on a stump 

 or in a low bush, it is neatly built and most softly lined 

 with hair — often the hair rubbed off by the cattle on the 

 stumps. It contains some four eggs about .80 x -60, of a 

 fleshy white, sometimes tinged with blue, delicately specked 

 with reddish-brown. This nest is a very gem of its kind — 

 almost proof in itself against the boyish propensity to dis- 



