676 U-S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 2 



the Canadian Life-Zone, except where local ecological conditions per- 

 mit its prasence elsewhere, but in the Hudsonian and Arctic life-zones 

 it has invaded the interior country, and has spread northward even 

 to Hudson Strait." 



Nesting. — Peters and Burleigh (1951a) found Savannahs "abundant 

 in the meadows of southwestern Newfoundland, in the barrens of 

 the Topsail country and in the ptarmigan barrens on the Avalon 

 Peninsula. They also occur on the tops of hills and mountains * * *. 

 We have seen many nests all containing either five eggs or five young 

 birds. There are evidently two broods raised commonly * * *^ 

 for on several occasions we have foung flying young in the same areas 

 with nests containing eggs." 



Braund and McCullagh (1940), reporting on the birds of Anticosti 

 Island, have this to say about the Savannah sparrow: 



* * * We found the Savannah Sparrow common inland, on the dryer areas 

 surrounding the muskeg, as well as along the coast. In the vicinity of the Eel 

 Falls camp on June 29 fifteen were observed, and in the numerous bogs bordering 

 Fox River, several pairs were seen. On a low ridge between the sea and one of 

 these bogs a nest with 3 fresh eggs was found, concealed in a tuft of grass. The 

 nest was composed of coarse native grasses, becoming progressively finer inward, 

 to the lining, which was composed of fine dry grasses. The outside dimensions 

 of the nest were 6 inches across by 3 inches deep; the bowl had a diameter of 

 2^4 inches, and a depth of m inches. 



In coastal Labrador, Austin (1932) found a nest at Battle Harbor 

 which was "composed of fine grasses and lined with rootlets, [it] 

 was level with the ground in a little cup under an overhanging tuft of 

 Empetrum nigrum." 



In the Knob Lake area of central Labrador, I examined several 

 nests, each in one of the numerous sedge bogs that are interspersed 

 between the spruce-lichen forests of the Labrador trough. Each 

 nest was deeply sunk into a sedge clump, its top even with the matted 

 basal stems, and the sparse sedge blades forming the thinnest of 

 canopies over the nest. Although it seemed inevitable that the bottom 

 of such a nest should be wet, the cup was quite dry in every nest 

 inspected. 



One of these nests in a bog east of Lake Matemace on June 26, 1958, 

 contained four eggs which hatched on July 3. The newly hatched 

 young had down on the capital, dorsal, alar, and femoral tracts, and 

 their red gape was outlined with bright yellow. 



Peters and Burleigh (1951a) say that in Newfoundland, the Savan- 

 nah sparrow "Nests in a slight hollow in the ground, usually hidden 

 by overhanging grasses. The nest is constructed of fine grasses. 

 Usually 5 eggs are laid, of greenish-white or bluish-white, spotted 

 with reddish-brown or purplish-brown, but variable." 



