THE TITLARK. 95 



supplies the same conditions as increase of latitude, the tit- 

 lark is not known to breed south of the Arctic regions. It 

 will not surprise me, however, if it shall hereafter be proved 

 to do so. since it has already been reported as breeding in 

 western New York occasionally, and Dr. C. C. Abbott, a 

 most competent observer, assures me that he has seen the bird 

 in New Jersey in May. Audubon's oft-quoted account of its 

 nidification reads as follows : 



I found it breeding abundantly on the Labrador coast, on moss- 

 covered rocks, as well as in the deep vallejs, but never at any great 

 distance from the sea. The nests were usually placed at the foot of a 

 wall in the rocks, buried in the dark mould, and beautifully formed of 

 fine bent grass, arranged in a circular manner, without any hair or 

 other lining. Both birds incubate, sitting so closely that on several 

 occasions I almost put my foot upon them before they flew. The first 

 nest that I found was on the 29th of June, when the thermometer ranged 

 from 51 to 54 degrees. The eggs were six in number, five-eighths of 

 an inch long and six and one-quarter twelfths in breadth, being rather 

 elongated, though rounded at both ends; their ground color of a deep 

 reddish-chestnut or reddish-brown, considerably darkened by numerous 

 dots of a deeper reddish-brown and lines of various sizes, especially 

 toward the large end. 



Dr. Elliott Cones also met with it in Labrador, and ob- 

 tained two nests in July placed in cavities in the ground on 

 the side of a steep rocky chasm. They were built upon a 

 staging of dry grass, keeping them above the wet, and were con- 

 structed of '' coarse dried grass loosely arranged, and without 

 lining ; the exterior diameter was about six inches, the interior 

 three inches, with a depth of two inches. One nest contained 

 five, the other four, eggs, averaging thirteen-sixteenths of an 

 inch long, by nine and one-half sixteenths broad ; of a dark choc- 

 olate color, indistinctly marked with numerous small spots and 

 streaks of blackish. The parents do not leave the nest until 

 nearly trodden on, then the one that is incubating flutters up 

 with loud cries of distress that soon bring the mate, and the 

 pair hover anxiously overhead, at times approaching within a 

 few feet, or even alighting close by, all the while crying out in 



