1192 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 2 



W. R. Salt (1966) at Edmonton, Alberta, noticed a similar increase 

 in height of nesting site with the advancing season. He states that 

 during the last week of May, when fohage is sparse, nest shelter is 

 provided chiefly by dead grass, matted by winter snows and winds 

 into clumps in stems of rosebush or snowberry. Here some nests 

 rested practically on the ground, while others were 10 inches above 

 ground. The average height was 5 inches. No nest rested in a scrape. 

 As growth became more luxuriant with the advancing season, the 

 nesting site became rosebush or snowberry, and the average height 

 was 13 inches. Salt suggests that the clay-colored sparrow is more 

 responsive to distance from the surface of the vegetation than from 

 the ground. The majority of the clay-colors in his area nested within 

 9 inches of the siu-face of the vegetation. Salt, Walkinshaw (1944a), 

 and Fox (1961) all record the tendency within a local population to 

 select one type of nesting site above all others. 



Angus H. Shortt observed 50 nests during 1932 and 1933 at Deer 

 Lodge, Manitoba, a suburb 1 mile west of Winnipeg, in an area now 

 residential. He reports (MS.) the heights of nests above ground as 

 follows: up to 5 inches, 9; 6-10 inches, 34; 18 inches-4 feet, 7. 



Nest building requires 2 to 4 days and usually is done during the 

 morning (G. A. Fox, 1961). Pershing B, Hofslund at Duluth, Minn., 

 observed a fern. ale still building a nest that contained one egg. 



Nest failiu-e, followed by renesting, is common. Pairs generally 

 renest promptly, wdthin a day or so, and usually close to the original 

 nest site. G. C. Kuyava "WTites me describing three nesting attempts 

 near Duluth in 1958. After a storm destroyed the first nest contain- 

 ing four eggs on June 30, the birds built another nest about 10 feet 

 away. Two of three eggs hatched, but 2 days after hatching, a pred- 

 ator rifled this nest. After about a week the birds built another nest 

 almost equidistant between the first two sites. Two eggs hatched 12 

 days after laying. Both adults had been banded and were caught 

 several times in nets aroimd each of the three nests. A. H. Shortt 

 informs me that he watched one pair make four attempts at nesting. 

 The adults deserted the first two nests because of cowbirds, but 

 succeeded with the third and fourth nests. 



W. R. Salt (1966) found seven clutches, known to be fii'st ones, 

 completed in the period May 27 to June 11, and felt that the remain- 

 ing 11 clutches completed between June 11 and July 2 were second 

 or third layings. He cites an instance in which a new nest was built 

 and foiu" eggs laid in only 7 days after destruction of the first brood. 

 The greatest distance between sites of the original nest and of the 

 second nest was 110 feet. 



Recorded evidence that clay-colored sparrows attempt second broods 

 after successful nestings is scarce. John Lane tells me that repeated 



