iSSS.] BKT>iV)iK-Ey the Nest a7id Eg-gs of Bach7na7i"s Sparrotv. ZSS 



enough he had spread upon the bottom of the nest four eggs of 

 this Sparrow. The old man had been ploughing up a field 

 that had not been cultivated for years, and the oxen, said he, as 

 well as himself, were startled by the bird running from the nest. 

 He stated that he took the bird for a snake, and explained to me 

 that he was at first afraid to go to the spot where the Sparrow 

 was seen, and that he struck at the place first several times with 

 his whip, till he discovered the parent and then her nest." This 

 seems to fully confirm the theory that Peicccea ccstivalis bach- 

 mani imitates, as far as possible, the movements and hiss of a 

 snake, when disturbed on her nest, and tries to protect it there- 

 by, to some extent at any i^ate. 



A day afterwards the Doctor in passing within thirty steps of 

 this last-mentioned nesting site, flushed four Sparrows which 

 he took for early birds of this species, probably hatched in April. 

 They rose like a covey of Rob -whites, all together, and with a 

 whirr. There seems to be little doubt but that two broods are 

 raised in a season, if not more. Bachman's Sparrow is mainly 

 terrestrial in its habits, though when flushed it often alights in 

 trees. Frequently, when suddenly disturbed, it rises with an au- 

 dible whir. 



Doctor Avery writes me that they sing at all hours of the day, 

 but their song is especially striking and attractive at twilight, 

 commencing with a prelude of some sweet, soul-stirring sounds, 

 then changing to a trill, louder and more melodious than that of 

 the Field Sparrow. This prelude is varied, and relieves the song 

 of monotony, the little musician seeming to endeavor to make 

 himself as entertaining as possible by frequent changes in the 

 introductory notes of his sti'ain. 



In order to show the radical difference in the structure 

 of the nest of Peuccea iestivalzs proper and Peuccea cestivalis 

 bacJnnani^ I will state that a nest of the first-mentioned 

 species, taken near Gainesville, Florida, on May 31, 1887, 

 by Mr. Frank M. Chapman, a reliable and well-known orni- 

 thologist, containing four eggs and positively identified, the 

 female having been shot, and which is now in his collection 

 (No. 858), a typical P. ccstivalis^ is thus described by him in a 

 letter to the writer. 



"This nest was placed beneath a scrub palmetto, a growth 

 which everywhere here covers the ground, and was constructed 



