BIRDvS OF MINNESOTA. 319 



in the act of singing, although more commonly they seek but a 

 slight elevation for pouring out their melodious song. They 

 nest on the ground with remarkable attempts at concealment, 

 and the structures are not quite as artistic as many others of 

 the fringilline birds, consisting mostly of rather coarse grasses 

 and weeds, with a lining of fine fibrous roots. They arrive 

 in the vicinity of Minneapolis and St. Paul about the 25th of 

 April, and nests are generally found about the 20th of May, 

 occasionally one a little earlier, and they bring out usually two 

 broods before the 20th of July of about five, but often six or 

 seven of each. Their size and strongly marked colorings, 

 and their want of greater ^caution in concealing their nests, 

 makes birds and eggs both an easy prey to the smaller hawks 

 or their relative numbers would be greatly increased. They 

 seem to appear simultaneously all over the State according to 

 reports from eight or ten counties scattered from the extreme 

 southern to the northern boundary lines of the State. 



Dr. Hvoslef reports nests and eggs at Lanesboro, Fillmore 

 county, on the 15th of May. P. Lewis, at Herman, Grant 

 county, on the 20th of the same month. Mr. Potts, in Big 

 Stone, the 17th, etc. 



The eggs are rather strikingly marked, being ' 'white, curi- 

 ously streaked in zigzag;" the markings sharply defined, and a 

 rich, dark reddish brown or chocolate. They taper very little 

 towards the smaller end giving them a decidedly globular form. 

 These sparrows are all gone usually by the first of October, 

 but a few have been seen considerably later in favorable 

 autumns. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Hood chestnut, tinged with black towards the forehead, with 

 a median and superciliary stripe of dirty whitish; rest of up- 

 per parts pale grayish-brown, the interscapular region streaked 

 with dark brown; beneath white, a round spot on the upper 

 part of the breast, a maxillary stripe and a short line from the 

 bill to the eye, continued faintly behind it, black. A white 

 crescent under the eye, bordered below by black, and behind 

 by chestnut. Tail feathers dark brown, tipped broadly with 

 white. 



Length, 6; wing, 3.30. 



Habitat, Mississippi valley region. 



