August. 1892.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



121 



the "Bay-winged Bunting," with which 

 I had long been familiar, fell upon the 

 listening ear, and appeared to come from 

 all parts of the seemingly boundless hori- 

 zon, and at various stopping places, till 

 we were ascending the '^downs'' of Al- 

 berta, its presence and its song were still 

 noted as an eft'ecting feature of the land- 

 scape. In the comparatively older and 

 more prairie-like settlement near Fort 

 Langly, on the lower Fraser, I first added 

 this species to my list of the avi-faioia 

 of Britisii Columbia, but it was afterwards 

 noted in some cultivated fields, on the 

 margins of the river, further down that 

 stream. 



It evidently does not like to frequent 

 the margins of the woods or partially 

 cleared places. Out on the open prairie, 

 standing on a Gopher mound, a sod, or 

 even the level sward, it will sing as cheer- 

 ily as in the more wooded regions, where 

 it finds a post, a fence, or the lower 

 branches of a tree on whicii to perch 

 while venting its simple music. But the 

 grass-grown field is its peculiar home 

 from early spring till the frosts of autumn 

 begin to end the growth of vegetation and 

 herald the approach of winter, and no- 

 where else is so much effected by its ex- 

 istence. 



Though there is not much variation in 

 its song, yet it is distinguishable from the 

 true Vesper Sparrow, and this distinction 

 is doubtless more notable if the two are 

 heard, as they sometimes are, in the same 

 vicinity. Nor is there any distinction in 

 the plumage by which, at a short distance, 

 it could be identified, but I believe the 

 bay-color on the wings is of a deeper hue, 

 and the plumage in general darker than 

 that which adorns our modest songster of 

 the evening twilight. But at a short dis- 

 tance the same plain garb seems to clothe 

 the resident of the prairie and the shores 

 of our sunset Province as is assumed by 

 the "Gray bird" of my early years, and 



with which I have been so long familiar 

 in the undulating fields of Central Ontario. 

 And, so far as I could learn, its general 

 habits and the number and coloring of its 

 eggs are much the same. It always nests 

 upon the ground, mostly in a grass or 

 grain-sown field ; and under the side of a 

 sod or among the growing vegetation is 

 with it a favorite place for the cradle of 

 its progeny. The foundation for the nest 

 is always sunk in the soft mould, the bird 

 making a little cavity for that purpose and 

 then collecting round the sides bits of 

 weed stalks, stubble and coarse grass, the 

 inside being formed with^ fine, dry grass 

 and different kinds of hair and rootlets. 

 The set of eggs is mostly four, sometimes 

 five, but occasionally three are incubated. 

 These are of a grayish-white hue, vari- 

 ously marked with reddish, brown, purple 

 and lilac. W. L. Kclh. 



Albino Eggs of Long-billed Marsh 

 Wren. 



I thought it would be of interest to 

 readers of Ornithologist and Oolo- 

 GIST that on June 10, 1891, I took three 

 sets of albino Long-billed Marsh Wren 

 eggs. The eggs were white, without any 

 spots whatever, and were properly identi- 

 fied, as several were found with the darker 

 kind. One set of four were all pure 

 white without any markings. I also found 

 several nearly albino ones. 



B . H. S-vales. 



Detroit, Mich. 



We want brief newsy notes on natural 

 history. We have many lists of birds sent 

 in ; and while they are of value, we find that 

 the majority of our readers are not partic- 

 ularly interested in them. 



Engineer Daniels, on his trip from New 

 York to Boston, while passing through 

 Fomfret, Conn., had a Red Screech Owl 

 fly in between the engine and tender. The 

 bird lived only a short time. 



