MICHIGAN 249 



nearly all these ground sparrows, including the celebrated 

 song sparrow, are so much alike that unless the bird is 

 actually caught on the nest it is often very difficult to 

 identify them. I formed a complete gradation of these 

 eggs, showing that in a dozen species any two adjoining 

 were so much alike that it could not be positively said 

 that they were not the eggs of the same bird. Generally 

 the ground colour is bluish, speckled and blotched with dull 

 red and purplish brown. The eggs of all these so-called 

 sparrows (they are not true sparrows) are very small 

 and delicate shelled, approximating those of the English 

 linnet in size. I did not find those of the song sparrow 

 in Northern Michigan ; but the bird is plentiful enough 

 a little farther south in Ohio and Massachusetts, &c. 

 Probably the northern breeding limit of the song sparrow 

 does not extend beyond the south of Michigan. I never 

 found the nest farther north, though odd individuals of 

 all these sparrows sometimes stray very far from their 

 normal habitat. The nests of all the ground sparrows 

 are cunningly hid, and all avoid their nests if they have 

 the slightest suspicion that they are being watched. 



Among the animals noted in Northern Michigan was 

 the Canadian lynx. I saw a fine specimen of this animal 

 in the forest, but failed to shoot it, it was so quick in its 

 movements, and lost not a moment in making its escape. 

 By-the-by, I heard this lynx plunge into a stream in 

 making its escape. It could not have got away without 

 doing so, and it must have swum very quickly, for it had 

 crossed a distance of fifty yards and disappeared before I 

 could get up, though I did so promptly. 



In this same stream and hi the adjacent swamps, 

 some of which were close to the shores of Superior, the 

 large rats called musquashes, Fiber zibethicus, were very 

 abundant, insomuch that I sometimes obtained forty or 

 fifty of an evening for the sake of the skins, which are of 

 great use for making rugs, fur coats, &c., though the skin 

 itself is not much esteemed by the traders. About here 



