118 



THE OSPREY. 



Silent Crossbills, busily shelling* pine seeds from 

 the cone, and no\v and then a band of lispint;- 

 frivolous Kinglets appear to be the onl3' avian 

 members present in these groves to-day. Even 

 the tiny King-let has caug-ht up the spirit of 

 spring- and stops at times to bubble forth a most 

 enthusiastic jumble of blithesome notes all 

 small, even as the bird itself, but full of blissful 

 inspiration. He is never tired of his simple 

 rollicking- dittv and repeats it again and again. 

 In several places in our ■wood3' path, where 

 the pines stood a little apart, permitting- 

 the sunshine to warm the red clay soil, 

 we met another member of those fairy airy 

 creatures, the butterflies, and these belong-ed to 

 the g-enus Grapfa; they were all too shy to 

 permit of closer identification. Tufted Tits' and 

 Carolina Chickadees were romping in a locust 

 thicket, but their notes all denoted displeasure, 



no doubt evoked by our presence. They were 

 quite as intent upon the selection of nesting 

 sites as were the Downeys which took a peep at 

 us from behind a sheltering- limb. 



As evening closed upon the scene we rested 

 once again and listened to the hum of the trolley 

 cars, the puff of the steam engine and the occa- 

 sional whistle from a steamer, as we looked 

 upon the city with all its multitude, from the 

 elevated lookout aff'orded at Over-Look-Inn. 

 The sun framed in a scene of clouds which 

 words and brush would vain attempt to express, 

 was casting- a last pai-ting- glance upon the 

 gilded dome of the Library, the Capitol and the 

 top of the Monument. Then came a lull in the 

 winds and sounds, as if to give the solitary 

 Mourning Dove observed, a chance to sound 

 an Ave Maria at the close of day. 



Meadow I^ark. Sturnella magna. 

 (From Bulletin 7 of Division of Economic Biology D. A.) 



NESTING OF SOME RARE BIRDS. 

 By Wm. L. Weixs, Listowell, Ont. 



THE FOX SPAKKOW. 



On the 22nd of November, 1899, when in the 

 city of Stratford, I called at the residence of a 

 gentleman who I understood had devoted much 

 time and attention to the study of birds and 

 their nidification; and who I found had in his 

 cabinet a fairly good collection of oological spe- 

 cimens. On looking over these I was rather 

 surprised to notice a set of three eggs, labeled 

 "Fox Sparrow." On inquiry, Mr. Square in- 

 formed me that he had himself collected the 

 specimens about ten years ago. The location 

 where the nest was found was a swampy place, 

 a short distance to the southwards of "the city 

 limits, and the situation of the nesting site was 

 a clump of sedges, or swamp grass, the materials 

 used being similar to those appropriated by the 

 other species of Canadian sparrows that nest 

 in similar situations, i. e. stems of grass and 



weed stems, lined with vine vegetable materials. 

 The eggs when taken in the earl}' part of June 

 were fresh, and the set was evidently not com- 

 pleted. In size, these are larg"er than the eggs 

 of many other of the sparrows found in Ontario; 

 in form they resemble those of the White- 

 throated Sparrow; but in color and marking- are 

 more like those of a small set of Mocking- birds. 

 Mr. Square had previously observed the birds 

 in the locality, and specially noted the melodi- 

 ous song of the male, and of his ability to iden- 

 tify the species there is no reason to doubt. It 

 is onlj' occasionally, in the periods of the spring 

 and fall migrations, that any of this species is 

 observed in the vicinity of Listowell, and only 

 on one occasion, in the spring season, when a 

 few of the species stopped for a few days did I 

 ever hear its song notes. 



The summer haunts and home of the Fox- 

 colored Sparrow are generally to be found in the 



