504 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
wherever a favourable locality exists. The original discovery 
was made on May 24th, 1898, when several were noted at Jeannette 
creek and since then they have been found in the locality on two 
other occasions. This is the most inconspicuous bird I have ever 
met with; it runs through the grass like a mouse and does not rise 
until one is almost on it, when it makes a short zigzag flight and 
again conceals itself. (W. E. Saunders.) I was surprised to find 
this sparrow on Lake Joseph, Muskoka, and apparently breeding. 
I first noticed it on July 14th, 1902, in a hay-field about a mile from 
Port Sandfield, and for some days had every opportunity of watch- 
ing the males as they sat on the fence and uttered their rather 
wheezy notes. Two more pairs were in one field, and I could find 
none in any of the few likely places elsewhere. (J. H. Fleming in 
The Auk, Vol. XIX., p. 403.) I met with a pair of these birds near 
Lansdowne, Ont., in May, 1898. Later found the nest containing 
four eggs. It was placed in a wet springy place in a meadow and was 
well concealed under a tuft of grass. The eggs are readily dis- 
tinguished from those of the Savanna sparrow, of which I have seen 
numbers. The nest is somewhat similar but more substantial. 
(Rev. C. J. Young.) Saw several on Sable island, N.S., May 18th, 
1905 and May 16th, 1907. (J. Boutelier.) Mr. Boutelier is probably 
mistaken in his identifications. 
548. Leconte Sparrow. 
Ammodramus lecontew (AuD.) GRAY. 1849. 
A male specimen of this species was given to me as an Acadian 
sharp-tailed sparrow, taken May 5th, 1897, at Toronto, Ont.; this 
is the first record for Ontario. (J. H. Ames in The Auk, Vol. XIV., 
Pa4iT) 
The rediscovery of this little known and extremely interesting 
species in Dakota was made in the season of 1873 by the Boun- 
dary Commission. On the march between Turtle mountain and 
the first crossing of the Mouse (Souris) river, I came upon what 
seemed ‘to be a small colony of the birds in a moist depression of 
the prairie. I subsequently found the bird again and secured 
another specimen. (Coues.) This beautiful sparrow abounds in 
Manitoba wherever there are meadows that offer the right com- 
binations of willow, scrub and sedgy grass, and has been taken by 
e 
