572 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



about the 15th to the 20th of May, and at Slave Lake only a few days 

 earlier. They are then no longer in flocks, but have ah-eady paired. They 

 commence nesting ahnost immediately upon their arrival at the Yukon and 

 at Fort Good Hope. ^Ir. lioss found nests made as early as May 20 to 25, 

 while there was still considerable snow upon the ground. They mostly nest, 

 however, in the first half of June, the young usually hatching between the 

 loth and 30tli, and leaving the nests when less than a month old. They all 

 leave the Arctic Circle about the middle of September. A few were seen 

 at Fort Simpson in the latter part of that month. When starting^ they 

 gather in small flocks. The nest is built on high ground, among low, 

 open bushes, always at the foot of some shrub or bush, and more or less 

 protected and concealed by grass. It is never placed in the edges of 

 marshes, like Melospiza lincolni; nor on small prairies, like the Passemdus 

 savanna ; nor in thick M'oods, as does sometimes the Z. alUcollis. The nest 

 is neatly built, is more compact and of finer materials than that of the 

 latter. It is large and deep, formed externally of coarse grass, and lined 

 with finer materials. 



When started from her nest, the female flies oh' a few yards and flutters 

 silently along the ground to divert attention. If unsuccessful, she flies 

 about her nest uttering sharp, harsh notes, of anxiety. The male is less 

 bold on such occasions. Their favorite habitat is light open bushes, affect- 

 ing neither open plains nor deep woods and never perching so high a,s 

 twenty feet from the ground, and usually, in all their movements, keeping 

 close to the earth. 



Its food, so far as could be observed, consisted almost wholly of seeds, 

 sought mostly on the ground. It liatches only a single brood in a year. 



Mr. B. R. Eoss adds that this is the most abundant Sparrow throughout 

 the Mackenzie Eiver region, and also the most interesting. Through the 

 spring and summer its melodious song, which strongly calls to mind the 

 first notes of the old air, " Dear ! what can the Matter be ? " may be 

 heard from every thicket, both night and day. When sleeping in the 

 woods, Mr. Eoss states that he has often been awakened by several of 

 these birds singing near him, answering each other, throughout the short 

 night, when all the other birds were silent. On this account, but for the 

 richness and melody of its song the bird would have made itself quite 

 disagreeable. 



The Cree Indians name this Sparrow Wah-si-jns-chan, because they think 

 this resembles its notes, the last of which are supposed to imitate the sound 

 of running water. It sings long after the breeding-season is past, and its 

 notes may be heard even into August. 



The eggs measure .85 of an inch in length by .65 in breadth, and have a 

 ground of a greenish -white marked with a rusty-brown. They are of a 

 rounded-oval shape. 



