A JOURNEY TO THE RED RIVER 69 



In June and July there were both eggs and young in the 

 nests, generally four or five, but in some cases only three. 

 I think that finches, which have five as a normal number 

 of young, usually lay but three eggs in their first season 

 of breeding. Second broods are also small in number. 

 The eggs referred to above were of a whitish colour, 

 spotted, and slightly blotched, with two shades of brown. 

 This bird is the rose-breasted grosbeak, ffabia ludoviciana 

 of American ornithologists : another instance of how 

 widely specific nomenclature differs in America and 

 England. The range of this bird is enormous, embrac- 

 ing nearly the whole of North America; and I have 

 found it in several countries of South America, particu- 

 larly on the lower regions of the Northern Andes. I 

 may remark that many species of small birds (as well as 

 those of considerable size) that range as. far north as 

 this, are found quite as far south as the equator. I 

 should like to be able to prove whether the birds alluded 

 to migrate all these thousands of miles, or are permanently 

 settled in some parts of their range. They certainly 

 leave this region on the approach of winter; in fact 

 many parts of Canada and the North- West lose all their 

 small birds before the cold sets in. 



There were at least a dozen other species of birds 

 hereabout, whose size did not exceed that of the common 

 song- thrush ; but as I cannot speak with certainty of 

 those whose skins I did not obtain, or succeed in pre- 

 serving. I need say no more about them than that most 

 of them were species of Melospiza and Spizella. 



The Canadian grouse, commonly called the " par- 

 tridge" in this country, was quite abundant, and was 

 breeding at this time ; many young birds, just able to run, 

 being about. This bird was stupidly tame, as I have 

 noticed that it always is during the breeding season. 



The heat became very great, often 90 to 100 and 

 more, in the shade, during the latter half of June, but 

 the weather was, on the whole, delightful. Scarcely 



