664 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 2 



four. He describes them as having a great variety of markings and 

 color, some resembling those of the Savannah sparrow; others were 

 light brown with larger blotches like eggs of the vesper sparrow. 

 One set was slaty with very small spots resembling the eggs of the 

 horned lark; another set were like the eggs of the bobolink. D wight 

 (1895) found his first nest containing thi-ee eggs on June 2. Ap- 

 parently an egg a day was laid, because by June 4 the nest contained 

 five. Another nest which had just been completed June 2 was aban- 

 doned. On June 2 he found three more nests on the eastern part 

 of Sable Island, each containing four eggs. Of 22 eggs taken, Dwight 

 remarks that they average a little larger than the eggs of the Savannah 

 sparrow, from which they are otherwise indistinguishable, and adds: 

 "They resemble the eggs of several other sparrows. The ground color 

 is bluish or grayish-white, often so washed with brown as to appear 

 olive-brown and usually so splashed and sprinkled with different 

 shades of umber and Vandyke brown as almost to conceal the color 

 of the shell. There are also purplish and gi-ayish-brown markings 

 that are less apparent on most of the eggs than are the bolder blotches 

 of the deeper browns that in the majority of cases aggregate about 

 the larger end and form there a ring." 



Dwight also noted considerable variation in the eggs of a single 

 clutch. Their shape was usually ovate, but in one set they were 

 long and slender. The average size was 21.6 millimeters (.85 inch) 

 by 15.5 millimeters (.61 inch). The lengths of extremes were 23.1 

 millimeters (.91 inch) to 20.3 millimeters (.80 inch); extremes of 

 diameter were 15.7 millimeters (.62 inch) to 15.2 millimeters (.60 

 inch). 



W. G. F. Harris adds: "The usual number of eggs laid by the 

 Ipswich sparrow are from three to five. They are ovate to elongate- 

 ovate and have very Uttle gloss. The ground color may be very pale 

 greenish-white or du'ty white; heavily speckled, spotted, or blotched 

 with browns and reddish browns, and undermarldngs of 'pale neutral 

 gray.' The two sets at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zool- 

 ogy differ both in shape and coloring. The eggs of one set are elongate- 

 ovate. The ground is dirty white profusely spotted and blotched with 

 reddish browns such as 'pecan brown/ 'russet,' 'auburn,' and 'snuff 

 brown' Avith a few short streaks of black and uudermarkings of 

 'pale neutral gray.' The spottings are concentrated toward the 

 large end, and on some they form a solid cap. The eggs of the 

 second set are ovate. The ground is creamy white and the markings 

 tend more toward the yellow browns such as 'Verona brown,' 'Brussels 

 brown,' 'snuff brown,' and 'Argus brown' with underlying spots of 

 the same 'pale neutral gray.' The fine speckles, spots, and large 

 blotches are weU scattered over the entue eggs becoming confluent at 



