THE OSPREY. 



119 



reg-ions north of Ontario, in northeast Quebec, 

 Labrador and Newfoundland. Mr. Gosse in 

 his vohime, The Canadian Naturalist, says 

 that, during- his stay in that island, he became 

 very familiar with this bird, as it was in New- 

 foundland one of the most common species, and 

 in its manners fearless and familiar, in these 

 respects resembling- the European House-spar- 

 row (p. 246). Audubon records the Fox-colored 

 Sparrow as among the birds that he found breed- 

 ing on the Magdalene Islands, and speaking of 

 the species of land birds observed in Labrador, 

 he says, "So sonorous is the song of the Fox- 

 colored Sparrow, that I hear it for hours most 

 distinctly, from the cabin where I am drawing, 

 and 3'et it is distant more than a quarter of a 

 mile. This bird is in this country what the 

 Towee Bunting is in the Middle States". 



Mr. Wm. Couper, editor of the Canadian 

 Sportsman and Naturalist, who visited this 

 region in 1867, writes regarding this bird, "the 

 sweet song of the Fox-colored Sparrow (Pas- 

 si'irlla iliaca) is pleasing to the ear as we wander 

 throug-h the open parts of these northern forests, 

 and it was with no small joy that we discovered 

 the nest on the 15th of June, and authenticated 

 its eggs for the first time. Audubon has made 

 a mistake in his description of the eggs of this 

 species. The eg'-g- is larger than that of any 

 other sparrow found within this latitude, and 

 they are completely" covered with patches of a 

 ferrug-inous tint. Contrary to the habit of spar- 

 rows, this nest was built in a low fir tree, about 

 three feet from the ground," (vol. 1, p. 53). 



And in vol. 3, No. 6, in an article on this 

 species, Mr. Couper says: Dvnnng my summer 

 visits to the Island of Anticosti, and the north 

 shore of the St. Lawrence, I had many oppor- 

 tunities of watching this beautiful sparrow. 

 In fact it was on the Labradorian coast that I 

 first heard its delightful song, and although the 

 notes are few, thej' are given in a sweet, clear, 

 distinct tone; but when several males are res- 

 ponding, they seem to cheer, and add life to 

 their dreary surroundings. The call is certainly 

 pleasant to the ear of man, more especially when 

 he is alone in a region where the song of no 

 other bii'd is heard. All this class of birds have 

 their peculiar nuptial notes: those of the Fox- 

 colored Sparrow sound to my ear like, O dear- 

 dear-prettj'-prettj'-creature. I do not think it 

 has been found nesting in the province of 

 Quebec, west of the Godbout. As far as I 

 could discover, its snmmer retreat is in the ba3's 

 of Anticosti, and the woodlands skirting the 

 north coast of the lower St. Lawrence. It 

 seldom nests on the ground, as those which I 

 found were in small trees on the margin of 

 rivers and creeks, not far from the sea. 



THE LITTLE YELLOW RAIL. 



In the oological collection of Mr. Square, in 

 the city of Stratford, I also noticed a specimen 

 of eggs of the little Yellow Rail, which that 

 gentleman had also collected some j-ears ago 

 in the marsh formed by an expansion of the 

 river Avon, in the northern part of the city. 

 The nest when found contained two eggs; but 

 one of them was unfortunately destroyed in 

 transmission. The nest, itself, was placed in a 



tuft of Sedge or Swamp grass, standing in the 

 water, and was formed in a similar manner, 

 and of similar materials as those of the larger 

 species of the Rail genus; but was smilar in 

 size, and more neatly made up, than that of the 

 Sora Rail; but the egg in form and marking 

 more resembled those of the Virginian, than 

 the Sora species; in fact its ground color, a yel- 

 lowish white with distinctly dark, brownish 

 spots, is quite like that of a King bird, though 

 the form is that of the Rail. This is the first 

 report of the nesting of this species in the 

 inland parts of Ontario, that has come under 

 my notice. Mr. Square also stated that, though 

 he had on several occasions observed the species 

 in that vicinity, yet its occurence there was 

 rare. This gentleman usually spends the sum- 

 mer season in the district of Muskoka, and is 

 well acquainted with the species and distribu- 

 tion of Canadian birds. 



In the second edition of the birds of Ontario, 

 1894, Mr. Thos. Mcllwraith says, regarding this 

 species: "We know little of this bird, partly 

 because it belongs to a class much given to 

 keeping out of sight; but chiefl}^ because it is 

 a rare species everywhere." He tells of seeing 

 a mounted specimen in Toronto, and heard of 

 another in Ottawa, and continues, "the greater 

 number of specimens of the Yellow Rail now in 

 existence have been found in New England; but 

 that may be owing to the greater number of col- 

 lectors there. It would be well for our Canadian 

 sportsmen to look out for the species when visit- 

 ing its haunts, because from its general resem- 

 blance to the Sora, it maj^ readily be overlooked. 

 One observer reports it as a tolerably common 

 summer resident near Winnipeg, and it has also 

 been noticed at Fort George by Dr. Bell. It has 

 therefore a wide distribution, but is nowhere 

 abundant." 



Professor Davie, of Columbus, O., writes re- 

 garding this species: "The small Yellow Crake 

 appears to be quite rare everywhere in Eastern 

 North America. It is known to breed in North- 

 ern Illinois, where its eggs have been taken. 

 Dr. Howard Jones has frequently taken it in the 

 vicinity of Circleville, Ohio, and considers it 

 nearly as common as the other species, and 

 believes it breeds there. The little Yellow 

 Rail has the same general traits common to 

 others of this family, frequenting marshy 

 places, skulking and hiding in the wet grass to 

 elude observation. The eggs are said to be 

 about six in number, rich, buff)' brown, naarked 

 at the larger end with a cluster of reddish-brown 

 dots; sizes range from .80 to .85 broad b)- 1.05 to 

 1.12 long." The egg noted above was distinctlj' 

 spotted over the greater part of the surface. 



NEST OF THE SOLITARY SANDPIPER. 



In the "Montreal Witness" of October 4, 1898, 

 in reply to the query of a correspondent regard- 

 ing the existence of a society for the preserva- 

 tion of birds, I note the following interesting 

 statement. "Wild birds are said to be unusu- 

 ally plentiful this year in Canada: in this con- 

 nection it is worthy of note that Dr. Clarke, 

 Medical Superintendent of the Rockwood Hos- 

 pital for the Insane, at Kingston, found, about 

 the beginning of the summer, the nest and eggs 



