Z. ALBICOLLIS : WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. 273 



This is a large, handsome Sparrow, scarcely sur- 

 passed in size and beauty by the Fox Sparrow itself. 

 The full-dressed males in spring, with the head per- 

 fectly black, white and yellow, singing their charac- 

 teristic notes, are conspicuous objects in the copses 

 and along the hedge-rows. The White-throats are 

 found all the year round in one or another portion 

 of New England, but are most numerous during the 

 migrations. The manner of their presence among us 

 is easily given. They are birds of the eastern United 

 States at large, whose summer home is practically 

 limited to the southward by the Canadian Fauna, to 

 gain and retire from which they pass through the Alle- 

 ghanian and Carolinian in spring and fall, a small 

 number remaining through the winter in the latter. 

 But, characteristic as the species is of the first-named 

 Fauna, it is nevertheless known to nest in the Alle- 

 ghanian. It was long ago noted by Prof. Emmons to 

 breed in Massachusetts, and this early record has been 

 confirmed b}^ late observations. Mr. F. C. Browne 

 has recorded a nest with four eggs found in Framing- 

 ham near the Natick line, in June, 1874. ^^ ^'^'^^ situ- 

 ated in a tussock of grass in a rather wet meadow, 

 adjoining a wooded swamp filled with alders (Bull. 

 Nutt. Club, V, 1880, p. 52 ; see, also. Hist. N. A. 

 Birds, i, 1874, p. 575). On the 13th of June, 1874, 

 Mr. N. C. Brown found a nest containing four eggs 

 in Scarborough, Maine, where subsequent observa- 

 tions showed the bird to be a rather common summer 

 resident, as it was also in suitable localities throughout 

 Cumberland County.' It is unnecessary, however, to 

 adduce the many instances that might be given to 

 establish the fact that the bird breeds commonly in 



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