THE WILSON QUARTERLY. 71 



found nests in rather low places, seldom on uplands. 



Mr Stone finds nests most common about May 15. I have 

 found them as early as May 1. and as late as June 15. Mr. 

 Stone records a nest with five eggs June 6, Early nests 

 may contain six eggs, usually five, and late only three. 

 The average set is five. The eggs are a greenish- or gra} - 

 ish-white, very finely marked with spots and dots and 

 small l)lotches of light brown and lilac, forming a ring 

 about the larger end or becoming almost confluent in a great 

 blotch covering it all over. Incubation lasts twelve days, 

 and the young leave the nest in about fifteen days. 



Ammodratnus savannarutu passerinus. Grasshopper 

 Sparrow. 



Although pretty generally distributed over the Eastern 

 United States, the Grasshopper Sparrow does not seem to 

 have been very widely noticed. There are only the records 

 of Mr. Sage for Connecticut, and my own for Iowa. Mr. 

 L. M. McCormick secured three specimens on the Ver- 

 million river bottoms during the season ; they were evi- 

 dently breeding. Mr. Sage calls it ''a rare S. R." in Con- 

 necticut. He has found two nests. One, June 1, five 

 eggs, the young well developed. Nest in an open, dry field, 

 and not protected by a tuft of grass or weeds. The other, 

 June 6, four eggs. Nest in a mowing lot, on high ground. 

 In Iowa, 2Kts>>evinus is one of our commonest sparrows. 

 Nest building begins the second week in May, and fresh 

 eggs are frequently found in July. First sets sometimes 

 contain six eggs, July sets almost invariably only three. 

 Five is the normal number. It is very common to find sin- 

 gle eggs of passerhi us lying upon tlie bare ground. 



The nest is inade in a slight depression made by the birds, 

 usually beneath a tuft of grass or weeds. It is composed 

 almost wholly of fine, dry grass, seldom lined with a few 

 hairs. Early in the season it is frequently arched over, 

 and is very pretty. Later it is a plain, flat nest. 



The majority of nests are in lowlands, not wet lands, or 

 on side hills sloping to depressions. A very small percent- 

 age are on the hill-tops. The bird flushes finely from the 



