EASTERN FOX SPARROW 1403 



ground nests." This suggests that acceptable cover is sometimes less 

 dense in Newfoundland than I found it in Saguenay County and 

 Philip B. Philipp (1925) did in the Magdalens. Most nests L. M. 

 Tuck found were under small spruces and composed of green mosses 

 lined with dried grasses and sometimes a few feathers. The earliest 

 he found at Cornerbrook May 18, 1951, with three eggs was under an 

 alder bush not yet in leaf, and built of dry alder leaves lined with 

 grass and two white feathers. The latest nest with three eggs on 

 Gull Island July 1, 1950 was under a black currant bush and built 

 entirely of grasses. 



Eggs. — The fox sparrow usually lays from 3 to 5 ovate and slightly 

 glossy eggs. The ground color of freshly laid eggs is "pale Niagara 

 green," but upon exposure this fades to a greenish white. They are 

 boldly marked with spots, blotches, and cloudings of reddish browns 

 such as "natal brown," "brownish olive," "Mars brown," "warm 

 sepia," or "Brussels brown." The markings are generally heavier 

 toward the large end, but there is considerable variation both in 

 pattern and in intensity of coloring. They range from eggs with very 

 small spots covering the entire surface to eggs showing considerable 

 ground with large confluent blotches at the larger end. The measure- 

 ments of 50 eggs of the nominate race average 22.7 by 16.3 milli- 

 meters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 25.5 by 17.4, 

 20.3 by 15.5, and 22.3 by 15.2 millimeters. 



Young. — The incubation period has never been measured accu- 

 rately; Edward H. Forbush (1929) gives it as "probably 12 to 14 

 days," and Oliver L. Austin, Jr. (1932) suggests "about 13 days." 



From his observations in the Magdalen Islands, P. B. Philipp (1925) 

 says the female does most of the incubating and that the young are 

 fed by both parents, who keep the nest "scrupulously clean." He 

 adds: "* * * by the time they leave the nest [they] are well feathered 

 with the family russet-brown. * * * they stay around in a family 

 party till they are quite well grown. I think many * * * raise two 

 broods, as I have found nearly fresh eggs late in June, in situations 

 where I am certain the first nesting was undisturbed." 



In southwestern Newfoundland W. J. Brown (1911) found many 

 young on the wing by the first of June, also several nests with young 

 in various stages. The presence of several other nests toward the 

 end of June with three to four eggs he thought suggested two broods. 



Young seem to leave the nest somewhat later on the west coast of 

 James Bay, where Thomas H. Manning and Andrew H. Macpherson 

 (1952) saw the first juveniles on July 22. After that date about half 

 the fox sparrows they recorded were young of the year. Between 

 June 22 and July 3, 1925, F. Napier Smith and I saw many young at 

 several points between Baie Johan Beetz and Havre St. Pierre on the 



