602 THE BIRDS OF MANITOBA THOMPSON. 



seems to be to sit on some low twig and deliver itselfof its husky notes 

 every few seconds, with all the empressemeiit of a full opera. 



June 14, 1884, Duck Mountains: Our camp is in a bluff of low pop- 

 lars and willows out in the prairie, which, however, is more or less 

 scrubby. Here in the very early morning, before dawn, we are often 

 awakened by the buzzing ^^ scree, scree" of some near Ashy-nape, willing 

 to be thought a nightingale. The species is remarkably abundant about 

 here, so much so that I can easily find three or four nests of it in an 

 hour or two. 



On July 28, as I was writing by the window, a family of shattucks 

 came rambling along, six in number, all youug birds, colored like old 

 ones, but streaked on the head and breast and tinged on the wings 

 with a little chestnut. In the long weeds by the window they found a 

 fine hunting ground and spent some time in hunting about, picking up 

 a hundred things which I could not see at all. Kow and then they 

 would adopt the role of fly catcher, and one got badly scared by a great 

 red butterfly that flew down beside him, but he soon recovered himself 

 and turned the tables by attempting to turn butterfly catcher. Another 

 member of the party was a Savanna Sparrow, who looked quite "bob- 

 tailed" beside the Shattucks. The whole party continued rambling and 

 foraging in this manner until at length they rambled out of sight. This 

 seems to be the usual way for youug birds to spend the last of their 

 first season. 



This small sparrow arrives in ilocks about the 13th of May. Its small 

 size and pale, ashy hue will generally identify it as it rambles over the 

 scrubby parts of the prairie. 



The song marking the pairing season begins to be heard towards the 

 third w;eek of May from a dozen points at once and ceases about the 

 10th of August. " Song" I call it for convenience, but it is the least 

 musical of a number of indifferent performances and is much after the 

 manner of Leconte's Sparrow. This bird mounts some i)erch and with 

 head thrown back and with gaping beak utters a sound like a fly in a 

 newspaper — ^^ scree- scree- screc''^ — sometimes giving but one note and at 

 other times, in the height of the season especially, repeating the dulcet 

 five or six times. In the "inlromission intervals" between perform- 

 ances, he sits immovably with the outward appearance and all the grav- 

 ity of an uncommonly hard thinker. 



The nest is usually finished by the last week in May, and at this time 

 the males have such ample time for their music that the scrubby parts 

 are resonant from dawn to dusk with their peculiar lasping "buzz." 



The spot chosen for their home is mostly in a low bush, not more than 

 a foot from the ground. As exception to this rule I have noted five 

 nests oil the ground and one or two at a height of 3 feet. It is a very 

 slight structure, a good deal like that of a Chipping Sparrow, but com- 

 posed entirely of grass. *When compared with other tree nests it is 

 conspicuously flimsy and light-colored, the latter effect being due to the 



