494 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



Breeding Notes. — Nest bulky, near stone quarry, built on 

 the ground composed of grass and weed stalks, lined with horse 

 hair and fine grass; eggs 4, grayish white, marked all over with 

 spots and splashes of dull reddish brown. {G. R. White.) Arrives in 

 New Brunswick from winter quarters during April, Have found 

 nests w4th full sets of eggs early in May ; and once a nest with three 

 eggs was found with partly incubated eggs in September. (W. H. 

 Moore.) This species breeds around Ottawa in May and June. 

 Nest sunken in the ground, the brim being on a level with the soil ; 

 nest composed of grass rootlets with sometimes a few bits of green 

 moss or a few hairs ; four or five eggs are the usual number. (Gar- 

 neau.) Found a vesper sparrow's nest containing three eggs, May 

 2nd, 1906, near Westmount, Que. The nest was built of grasses and 

 stems with a heavy lining of horse-hair and was placed in a clump of 

 dead grass in a field which was for the most part damp and marshy. 

 iW. J. Brown.) 



540a. Western "Vesper Sparrow. 



Pooccetes gramineus confinis Baird. 1858. 



This species breeds from Pembina on the east to the base of the 

 Rocky mountains on the west along the 49th parallel. (Coues.) 

 A very abundant summer resident on the prairies of Manitoba. 

 (E. T. Seion.) Abundant at Aweme, Man. (Criddle.) Abundant 

 breeder all over Manitoba and west to Edmonton, Alta. (Atkinson.) 

 This species arrives on the Saskatchewan plains early in May, and 

 frequents the withered grass which makes an excellent cover. It 

 was not seen by us beyond lat. 57°. (Richardson.) On 26th June, 

 1864, we found a nest of this species containing six eggs in a sparsely 

 wooded tract of country to the east of Fort Anderson. (Macfarlane.) 

 Quite a common summer resident throughout the country around 

 Prince Albert, Sask., and to be seen running ahead on every trail; 

 breeding in great numbers in the region. (Coubeaux.) In 1895 

 this species was common from Winnipeg to the Rocky mountains on 

 or near the 49th parallel. It always nested on the ground, but 

 seemed to prefer being where there is more or less brush; it was 

 first found nesting on June 2nd. First seen at Indian Head, Sask., 

 on May 9th, 1892, common by the 13th; found two nests on the 

 ground, June 7th, with four eggs in each; first seen at Medicine 



