1252 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 3 



of the nest had been collected and the breeding range roughly estab- 

 lished, the region was virtually inaccessible during the nesting season. 

 Completion of the railway to Fort Churchill opened a new world to 

 ornithological exploration, and in 1930 Percy A. Taverner (Taverner 

 and Sutton, 1934) found the birds common at the edge of timber a 

 few miles south of the townsite. First noted on May 28, the birds 

 became common by June 6. He found no eggs, but collected a nest 

 with young on June 27. He last noted the species on September 5. 



In 1931 two parties visited the Churchill area with the primary 

 aim of finding the eggs of the Harris' sparrow. Most of the following 

 information is summarized from the full and fascinating account by 

 John B. Semple and George M. Sutton (1932) whose party discovered 

 the first nest with eggs. On their way northward they observed 

 Harris' sparrows in numbers at The Pas, Manitoba, 500 miles south 

 of Churchill, on May 23. The train then preceded the migration 

 and went from spring back to winter. On arrival at Churchill May 

 25 they found 2 feet of snow on the level and drifts 20 feet deep; 

 temperatures ranged from 28° P. to about 60° F. during the day. 

 They first observed Harris' sparrows there on May 27. Though the 

 males were in full song, females collected showed unenlarged ovaries. 



During late May and early June they saw numbers of birds daily 

 on the barrens along the river, several miles from spruce timber; 

 these they subsequently termed migrants on their way to more north- 

 westerly regions. Of the nesting habitat at timberline they write: 

 'We found the birds most common at the edges of the woodlands, 

 in clearings near the railway track, and in the bushy margins of 

 burned-over areas. As a rule but one pair of birds lived in a given 

 patch of spruces or tamaracks; but sometimes two or three pairs 

 inhabited the same narrow tongue of forest. 



"By June 7, we had at least thirty pairs more or less definitely 

 located in an area of five square miles; we had not, however, wit- 

 nessed a single action indicative of nest building." In an atmosphere 

 tense with keen but friendly competition, both between the two 

 parties and the men within each group, the birds continued to act 

 indecisively. The weather continued backward and the search 

 continued fruitless. Semple and Sutton (1932) continue: 



We watched certain pairs by the hour, and found them so amazingly non- 

 commital about what we supposed to be their "territory" that we began to 

 wonder whether we were anywhere near the actual nesting grounds. The birds 

 would feed together for long periods in the morning, walking along among the 

 moss and grass; kicking vigorously, like Fox Sparrows, through leaves and debris; 

 then mount the low bushes, wipe their bills quickly, and fly to some far-distant 

 part of the woodlands, where it was often impossible to find them. Sometimes, 

 indeed, they became mildly excited at our presence; whereupon they would begin 

 weenking loudly; but they usually soon lost interest, wiped their bills, shook them- 



