528 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



composed entirely of grass; when compared with other tree nests 

 it is conspicuously flimsy and light-coloured, the latter effect being 

 due to the absence of the black fibrous roots so commonly used as 

 lining; the eggs are among the most beautiful of any produced by 

 the sparrows; when first the discoverer draws aside the bush and 

 exposes the nest with its complement, his feelings are as of finding 

 an exquisite casket of jewels ; although this is one of the most com- 

 mon of our sparrows, and although on the scrubby plain between 

 the Duck mountain and the Assiniboine in early June, I could have 

 found as many as four or five nests in an hour's walk, the treasure- 

 trove feeling in connection with the eggs continues in full force. I 

 infer from the above and other observations that the shattuck 

 bunting breeds twice, if not three times each season with us; it 

 leaves the "big plain" about the end of September. {E. T. Seton.) 

 Builds in rose bushes, snowberry and wolf-willows generally from 

 one to two feet from the ground; in size it is about three inches in 

 diameter, but the cavity is less than two inches across. The nest 

 is built of the stems of finer grasses and quite an open structure lined 

 inside with coarse dark horse-hair, other nests were lined with 

 white hair; in June, 1896, two nests were taken at Sewell, Manitoba, 

 each contained four eggs and was built in bushes of dwarf birch, 

 Betula glandulosa. (Macoun.) 



562. Brewer Sparrow. 



Spizella breweri Cass. 1856. 



Eastern slope of Coast range and Rocky mountain district; also 

 on the Similkameen river, B.C. {Fannin.) One specimen taken 

 in the pine woods above Ashcroft, B.C. (Rhoads.) 



563. Field Sparrow. 



Spizella pusilla (Wils.) Bonap. 1838. 



An uncommon summer resident in Nova Scotia. (Downs.) 

 Several specimens seen October 4th, 1902, on Sable island, N.S. 

 (/. Boutelier.) A few specimens seen June 8th, 1902, at Sydney, 

 Cape Breton island. (C. R. Harte.) A pair in breeding plumage 

 was taken on Entry island, Magdalen islands. Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 July 8th, 1887. {Bishop.) Of doubtful occurrence in eastern 

 Quebec. {Dionne.) A scarce summer resident at Montreal. I 



