414 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



The nests are always on the ground in the grass of the salt 

 meadows. Two nests with eggs were kindly sent me by the late 

 Judge J. N. Clark, both being taken at Old Saybrook, Con- 

 necticut. Both nests were composed of coarse salt marsh grass 

 and sedges, lined with the same which was only slightly finer. 

 One nest is three inches high outside by one and a half inside, 

 and four in external diameter by two internally. The other 

 nest is practically the same in size and appearance. They were 

 taken June 12 and June 8, 1895, each containing four eggs. 

 The eggs of one set measure 0.85 x 0.62, 0.85 x 63, 0.84 x 

 0.64, 0.82 X 0.64. Those of the other measure 0.79 x 0.60, 

 0.81 X 0.61, 0.85 X 0.62, 0.80 x 0.62. The ground color of 

 one set is bluish white, very thickly speckled with cinnamon 

 brown. The other eggs are more grayish white speckled and 

 blotched with umber brown, and the spots are heavier, larger 

 and more dense at the larger ends of the eggs. Different sets 

 show considerable variation in the amount and size of the 

 markings, but all eggs are plentifully marked. Three to five, 

 usually four eggs are laid and two broods are said to be reared. 

 As far as I am able to ascertain, there being little data at 

 hand regarding their food, they eat the various kinds of worms, 

 beetles, grubs and insects found in the salt marshes. 



Genus ZONOTRICHIA Swainson. 



554. Zonotrkhia leucophrys (Forst.). White-crowned 

 Sparrow. 



Plumage of adults : white stripe bordered each side by a black one of 

 equal width through center of crown ; white line from over eye along side 

 of head ; back grayish brown, feathers margined with gray ; nape gray ; 

 rump darker ; wing coverts white tipped ; tail fuscous ; belly, flanks and 

 under tail coverts huffish; other under parts grayish white. Immature 

 plumage : similar except the central line of the crown is pale grayish brown, 

 bordered by a stripe of rufous brown of about equal width each side ; 

 feathers of back margined with brownish ash. Wing 3.05 ; culmen 0.42 ; 

 tarsus 0.90 . tail 2.93. 



Geog. Dist. — Breeding from the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains in 

 the United States, and in Canada north of the Great Lakes to Labrador; 



