^%a"'] PROCEEDINGS OP THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 597 



seeing- the species close at band it strikes oue as beiug much like a 

 beautiful miniature of tbe Meadow-lark. 



About tbe middle of May tbe male begins to "sing" on some low 

 twig-, projecting a little above tbe long grass on tbe slougb. He takes 

 bis stand, grasping and keeping bis percb witb a fixity of manner that 

 bespeaks immovable resolution. Presently be tbrows back bis head, 

 gapes bis widest, and thus w4tb bill pointing to tbe zenitb, arduously la- 

 boring, be is debvered of a tiny, busky, double note '■'reese-rcese,^^ so tbin 

 a sound and so creaky tbat I believe it is usually attributed to a grass- 

 bopper, and j'et be evidently toils bard and brings tbis fortb witb such 

 unction tbat be is quite exhausted for a time and sits dejected until lie 

 recuperates, wbicli be does in about ten seconds, and once again bis 

 little soul is huskily poured out and again exbausted nature asserts ber 

 claims, and be subsides once more for tbe ten seconds of needful rest; 

 but tbe strain is too great to be kept up for any lengtb of time, so after 

 five or six rehearsals, from beginning to end without omission or abbre- 

 viation, be is in such a reduced condition that the notes are no longer 

 audible at a distance of 20 feet. lie now drops from Ids post of eleva- 

 tion to the lower world and devotes his energies to the accumulation of 

 protoplasmic recuperation in the form of plant-lice, flies, and cateri»illars. 



•It is interesting and amusing- to compare tbe intense earnestness of 

 tbe Scrub Sparrows in the utterance of their creaky notes witb the 

 cool, off-hand dash, the nonchalance of tbe Larks and Wood Thrushes 

 when they are stirring hearts and echoes witb their inimitable strains. 



Another conuuon note of this sparrow is a single, iong-<lrawn "/^i^^," 

 which also is deceptively like tbe sound of a grassbopi)er. Tbis it 

 re[)eats at intervals from some percb. When api)roached it droi)S into 

 the long grass and threads about in the sedgy rbicket like a Marsh 

 Wren, although it is much less difficult to put up than that bird. 



190. Chondestes grammacus. Lark Sparrow. 



Common summer resident in vicinity of Winnipeg (Iline). Not noted 

 elsewhere. 



191. Zonotrichia querula. Harris's Sparrow. 



Abundant spring and fall nngrant, fre(iuenting thickets. Mouse 

 River, at bouiulary, September 19 to October 3 (Cones), Portage la 

 Prairie: Common spring and autumn visitor; iirriving about May 15, 

 when they remain but a few days; reappear about September 20, depart- 

 ing about the 1st of October; whilst here they usually accompany tbe 

 Wbite-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, feeding in the rank weeds 

 around tbe deserted balf-breed claims (Nash). Fort Pel ly: In flocks, 

 50 miles nortb of Brandon, west of tbe Assiniboine, on tbe road to Fort 

 Ellice, October, 1881 (Macoun). (Jarberry: Abundant spring and fall 

 migrant ; Souris liiver (Thompson). Shell River: 1885, first seen, three, 

 on May 15; a transient visitant; not breeding (Calcutt). 



