70 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



of mating, and rattle off a rather low, pleasing song. 

 They are not constant singers, their voices being seldom 

 heard except in the morning and during the early breed- 

 ing season. 



Their nests are placed in a depression in the ground, 

 under logs and in various sheltered situations. I found 

 a nest in Nova Scotia, under an upturned root of a tree. 

 They are also said to occasionally nest in low bushes. 

 Their nests are made of dry grasses, strippings from 

 plants, and hairs, sometimes lined with fine grasses, bits 

 of moss, etc. Eggs usually four to five, .75x.5S ; whitish 

 to bluish green, speckled and blotched chiefly about the 

 larger end with dark reddish brown and lilac; in form, 

 oval. 



XIV. FOX SPAKKOW. 

 Passerella iliaca (MERE.). 



Winter sojourner ; abundant in the eastern part of 

 the State, rare in the western portion. Leave in March ; 

 return in October. 



HABITAT. Eastern North America; west to the plains 

 and Alaska ; north to or near the Arctic regions ; winters 

 from the southern portion of the Middle States southward 

 to the Gulf coast; breeds from the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 and Labrador to Alaska. 



Iris brown ; bill upper dusky, with edges of the same 

 and lower mandible straw color; legs and feet dark flesh 

 color ; claws brown. 



This large, plump, handsome Sparrow inhabits the 

 tangled thickets and sheltered ravines. It is largely ter- 

 restrial in its habits, and, like the Towhees, puts in most 

 of its time scratching among the dead leaves for food. 



