184 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 14-:N'o. 12 



spring both sickened and died. It was so 

 sudden and so apparently from an unnatural 

 cause that I was led to make a careful exam- 

 ination. I noticed that there seemed to be a 

 hard bunch in the lower part of the throat, 

 and the knife speedily revealed the secret. 

 They had gone to the ash heap and picked up 

 small cinders; these being rough had clogged 

 up the passage and they were unable to throw 

 them off. It would be impossible to relate the 

 many interesting things that I observed at the 

 time. I never before or since have had my 

 mind so much occupied by what seemed a 

 higher order of life in birds than we usually 

 observe than I did in the brief company with 

 my two pet crows. XX. 



Nesting of the White-throated 

 Sparrow. 



As I am not aware that the nesting habits 

 of this species (Zonatrichla alhicollls) have 

 been previously described in the pages of tlie 

 O. d- O. and as the habitat of this bird itself — 

 at least in the summer season — api)ears to be 

 rather locally confined, and its manner of 

 nesting seems known to comparatively few, 1 

 assume that some of my observations on this 

 matter, during the past season, may be inter- 

 esting to many readers. 



Unlike the Song Sparrow (Melospiza fd^ciatd) 

 the range of this species is confined to tracts 

 of low, swampy ground, or the margins of 

 brush-littered woods, where theie is an inter- 

 mingling of low brushwood, creeping vines, 

 tall grasses and fallen timber: but the half 

 burnt swamps are its pecidiar home, from the 

 early days of April until the advent of autumn; 

 and here through all the summer-time its clear, 

 loud whistling song is among the most con- 

 spicuous of all the bird melody that affects the 

 otherwise unpleasing scenery. 



In the manner and position of its nest there 

 is little difference between it and the Song 

 Sparrow, except that the nest is nearly always 

 placed upon the ground, generally sunk into 

 it. The materials of which the nest is com- 

 posed are also much the same, viz.: stalks of 

 dry weeds, strips of fine, dry bark, dry grass, 

 rootlets, and a small quantity of cattle, or 

 horse hair. The set of eggs is usually foiir, 

 although sometimes in the early season five 

 are deposited, while later on, sets of three and 

 two may be found undergoing incubation. Its 

 nidification extends from the middle of May 

 to the first week of August, but if not dis- 



turbed, it will probably not lay more than 

 twice in the season, while if disturbed it will 

 nidify four or five times. 



At first sight the amateur might easily take 

 the eggs of this species for those of the Song- 

 Sparrow, although generally they are larger, 

 but this is not always the case; yet to the prac- 

 tised eye of the more advanced o(ilogist a more 

 certain uniformity of size, roundness of form, 

 and a certain peculiar glossiness in the blue-gray 

 hue of the grt)und color, constitute a distin- 

 guishing characteristic, but it is always safer 

 to see the bird and hear her notes — which she 

 generally makes a liberal use of when her nest 

 is approached — in order to be sure of their 

 identity. Some nests and sets of eggs collected 

 by me in 188!) may be regarded as typical of 

 this species. The first, taken May loth, was 

 in a new fallow, and sunk into the soft mould, 

 among a cluster of dead stalks of the common 

 thistle. Some coarse materials formed the 

 outer rim; inside was a soft lining of fine dry 

 grass and a little hair. The set in this nest 

 was five eggs. These were of a light blue 

 ground hue, marked over the surface — espec- 

 ially on the larger end — with blotches of deep 

 brown. 



Another nest, taken May 27th, was only a 

 few feet from this, and placed in a clump of 

 young mullens. It was also siuik in the mould, 

 and was composed almost wholly of fine, dry 

 grass, but its set of four eggs were remarkably 

 different, being dotted all over the surface 

 with small, irregular spots of a light brown 

 hue. They were also larger in size, and more 

 round in form, but among themselves very 

 much alike. These two sets were, I think, 

 laid by the same bird. Another set of four 

 eggs, taken June 8th only a few rods distant, 

 was also among some young mullens, at the 

 bottom of a .small stump, and so exactly sim- 

 ilar in material of nest, size and coloration of 

 eggs, that I supposed it belonged also to the 

 same bird. 



Yet another nest, just over the fence in 

 another field, was similarly formed, and placed 

 at the roots of a tall mullen and some stalks of 

 wheat, seemed also from its two addled eggs 

 and the broken shells of two others to have 

 belonged to the same bird. This latter nest 

 was not noticed until the first week of July, 

 and I have no doubt that the bird nested again, 

 for the male bird was daily noticed singing his 

 peculiar song on his favorite perch — a tall 

 snag near by ^ — when I happened to be that 

 way, until towards the first of August. 



Another nest in the same fallow, noticed 



