19 2 Peabody, N^esihig- Habits of Lccoutes Sfarrinv. T April 



same Cowbird, a fourth being subsequently added after all the 

 eggs had been removed, reflects upon the intelligence of that 

 arrant parasite, which is nowhere more numerous than in the Red 

 River Valley. Three nests of the above, it will be noted, con- 

 tained eggs of the Cowbird. From this it is fairly clear that the 

 Cowbird must, in many cases at least, find nests for the deposition 

 of her own eggs by persistent searching, backed by a highly 

 developed instinct. 



As regards both the nest and the eggs, there are marked points 

 of difference between Leconte's Sparrow and any of its con- 

 geners. The normal nest is unique among the nests of Minne- 

 sota-breeding sparrows. It would seem to be built, in the main, 

 as follows : where dead and fallen grass is thickest, the bird 

 interweaves dead grasses among the standing stems, thus forming 

 a rude nest. Within this is placed the nest proper; this is an 

 exquisitely neat, well-rounded and deeply-cupped structure, com- 

 posed uniformly of the very finest grasses. In all but two of the 

 nests noted above, there was a more or less thick covering of fallen 

 dead grass ; all the nests except these two were in the lowland. 

 The average nest is placed with the base about eight inches above 

 the ground. One of the lowland nests noted barely touched the 

 ground, however, while the two upland nests were half svmk into 

 the earth, being thus, in situation and surroundings, somewhat 

 like nests of the Western Savanna Sparrow, though somewhat 

 smaller and relatively deeper. 



The eggs are usually distinct from those of any other of our 

 northern sparrows. While abnormal eggs are shaped and colored 

 like certain blue-grounded and umber-clouded eggs of the Song 

 Sparrow, the normal eggs of A. lecoiitei are much more rounded 

 than any eggs allied to them, having, in the main, a ground color 

 strikingly resembling that of a certain type of the eggs of the 

 Yellow-headed Blackbird, being of a mottled bluish-gray tint with 

 few distinct spots. They have, also, the same tendency to dark 

 streaks and hair-lines about the apex that characterize the eggs of 

 that species. There is a marked uniformity in the dimensions 

 of eggs of the same set. In one set the dimensions are .73 X .53 ; 

 in another, .69 x .53. Others are, .77 x .54, and .68 x .55. One 

 set shows marked differences in size, namely .65-. 71 x .52-.57. 



