ONTARIO. 



Genus CHONDESTES Swainson. 



215. CHONDESTES GRAMMACUS (Say.). 552. 



Lark SparroM^ 



Head curiously variegated with chestnut, black and white ; crown 

 chestnut, blackening on the forehead, divided by a median stripe and 

 bounded by two lateral stripes of white ; a black line through and another 

 below the eye, enclosing a white streak under the eye and the chestnut 

 auriculars ; next a sharp black maxillary stripe, not quite reaching the bill, 

 cutting off a white stripe from the white chin and throat. A black blotch on 

 middle of breast. Under-parts white, faintly shaded with grayish-brown; 

 the middle of the back with fine black streaks. Central tail-feathers like the 

 back, the rest jet black, broadly tipped with pure white in diminishing 

 amount from the lateral pair inward, and the outer web of outer pair entirely 

 white. Length, 6J-8 ; wing, 3I ; tail, 3. 



Hab. Mississippi Valley region, from Ohio, Illinois and ^lichigan to 

 the Plains, south to Eastern Texas. Accidental near the Atlantic coast 

 (Massachusetts, Long Island, New Jersey and Washington, D. C.) 



Nest, on the ground ; composed of dry grass. 



Eggs, 4 to 7 ; white, irregularly veined with dark. 



In May, 1862, a pair of these birds were observed near 

 Hamilton, and the male was obtained and shown to me shortly 

 afterwards. 



I did not hear of the species again till the publication of the 

 List of Birds of Western Ontario in 1882, in which it is given 

 as "breeding, but rare." More recently, Mr. Saunders informs 

 me that it breeds regularly near London. In the spring of 

 1885 I saw several on the Beach near Hamilton, and it is also 

 reported by Mr. Seton as having been observed near Toronto. 



It is evidently like some others making its vv'a}'^ into Ontario 

 around the west end of Lake Erie, and all lovers of birds will do 

 well to encourage it, for it is a sweet songster and a handsome 

 little bird of confiding, pleasing manners. 



Genus ZONOTRICHIA Swainson. 



2](). ZONOTRICHIA LEUCOPHRYS (Forst.). 5.^)4. 



White-Crow^ned Sparrow. 



Adults of both sexes with the crown pure white, enclosing on either side 

 a broad black stripe that meets its fellow on the forehead and descends the 



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