LARK SPARROW. 317 



HAB. Eastern United States and Southern Canada to the Plains, south 

 to Florida, Cuba, Porto Rico and coast of Central America. 

 Nest, a cup-shaped hole in the earth, lined with dry grass. 

 Eggs, four or five, crystal-white, speckled with reddish-brown. 



So far as at present known, the Grasshopper Sparrow is of very 

 rare occurrence in Ontario, the southern border seeming to be the 

 northern limit of its distribution. 



Many years ago I killed a male, who was squeezing out his 

 wheezy notes from the top of a mullein stalk. Mr. Saunders men- 

 tions having taken one near London, but these two cases complete 

 the record for Ontario. 



It is named 'among the birds found in the North -West by Prof, 

 Macoun, but is not found in Mr. Thompson's list of the "Birds of 

 Western Manitoba." It is much given to concealing itself among the 

 rank herbage, and may in some localities be a rare summer resident 

 in Southern Ontario, but I do not expect to see it here, except as- 

 a casual visitor. 



GENUS CHONDESTES SWAINSON. 

 CHONDESTES GRAMMACUS (SAY.). 



227. Lark Sparrow. (552) 



Head, curiously variegated with chestnut, black and white ; crown, chestnut, 

 blackening on the forehead, divided by a median stripe and bounded by two 

 lateral stripes of white ; a black line through and another below the eye, 

 enclosing a white streak under the eye and the chestnut auriculars ; next, a 

 sharp black maxillary stripe, not quite reaching the bill, cutting off a white 

 stripe from the white chin and throat ; a black blotch on middle of breast ; 

 under parts, white, faintly shaded with grayish-brown ; upper parts, grayish- 

 brown ; the middle of the back with fine black streaks ; central tail feathers, 

 like the back, the rest jet black, broadly tipped with pure white in diminish- 

 ing amount from the lateral pair inward, and the outer web of outer pair 

 entirely white. Length, 6|-7; wing, 3J; tail, 3. 



HAB. -Mississippi Valley region, from Ohio, Illinois and Michigan to 

 the Plains, south to Eastern Texas. Accidental near the Atlantic coast 

 (Massachusetts, Long Island, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.). 



Nest, on the ground, composed of dry grass. 



Eggs, three to five, white, irregularly veined with dark. 



In May, 1862, a pair of these birds was observed near Hamilton, 

 and the male was obtained and shown to me shortly afterwards. 

 I did not hear of the species again till the publication of the 



