458 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
the first week in August. During the second season, the first eggs 
were taken July 6th, and at that time there were already plenty 
of young birds flying. The laying-season must consequently 
reach over a period of at least two months. I was not on the 
ground early enough to determine the commencement exactly, 
but supposing a two weeks’ incubation, and about the same 
length of time occupied in rearing the young in the nest, the first 
batch of eggs must be laid early in June to give the sets of young 
which fly by the first of July. There is obviously time for the first 
pair to get a second, if not a third, brood off their hands by the 
end of August; I should say that certainly two, and probably 
three, broods are reared, as arule. The result of all this is that 
from the end of June until the end of August young birds in every 
state of plumage, and the parents in various degrees of wear and 
tear, are all found together. The nest, of course, is p!aced on the 
ground, usually beneath some little tuft of grass or weeds, which 
effectually conceals it. Like that of other ground-building 
sparrows, it is sunk flush with the surface of the ground, thin at 
the bottom, but with thicker and tolerably firm brim; it con- 
sists simply of a few grasses and weed-stems for the most part 
circularly disposed. In size, the cup is about 3% inches across 
the brim and nearly 2 in depth. During the first season, I only found 
four eggs or young in a nest; but I afterward took one containing 
six eggs. These measure about 4 long by ? broad, of an ordinary 
shape. They are difficult to describe as to colour, for the marking 
is intricate as well as very variable here as elsewhere in the 
genus. I have called them “ grayish-white ” more or less clouded 
and mottled with pale purplish gray which confers the prevailing 
tone; this is overlaid with numerous surface markings of points, 
scratches and small spots of dark brown, wholly indeterminate in 
distribution and number, but always conspicuous, being sharply 
displayed upon the subdued ground colour. On those occasions 
when I approached a nest containing eggs, the female usually 
walked off quietly, after a little flutter, to some distance, and then 
took wing; at other times, however, when there were young in 
the nest, both parents hovered close overhead, with continuous 
eres: + ((Cozes:) 
MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 
Seven; three taken at Indian Head, Assa., in September, 1891, 
and May, 1892, one at Medicine Hat, Assa., May, 1894, and 
