154 



THE SOOTY FOX SPARROW. 



thiise are the eggs of Talibalililclitcli. llie oilier Sung Sparrow we told you 

 about." The boy.s were near enough right : the Fox Sparrow is for all the 

 ordinary world lil<e a Song Sparrow; and I venture that not a dozen white 

 boys in Washington ever saw the bird itself, let alone distinguishing it by 

 name. 



The eggs referred to were ftiund amid most romantic surroundings, on 



Taken on Carroll Islcl. Photo bji the Author. 



NEST OF SOOTY FO.\ SPARROW IN FERN CEUMP. 



THE NEST ITSELF IS ALMOST INVISIBLE BECAUSE BURIED IN MOSS AND FEBN LEAVES, 



a sea-girt islet a mile or two out frotn the Pacific shore. The island is 

 given over to sea-birds, and these nest upon its precipitous sides to the 

 number of thousands: but the center of the rock is crowned with a grove 

 of spruce trees, which overshadow a dense growth of sahnon-berry bushes. 

 In a clump of the latter at a height of six feet was placed a very bulky but 

 unusually han<ls()me nest, which held, in the really tiny cu]) which occupies 

 the upper center of the structure, three eggs of a greenisli blue color heavily 

 spotted and marbled with warm browns. The nest measures externally eight 

 and ten inches in width, internally two; in depth four inches outside and 

 only one and a half inside. It is composed chiefly of green mosses set in 



