326 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



breast; inner edges of quills and tail feathers tinged with rufous-pink; no light lines 

 on the head, but a patch of rufous on the cheeks ; first quill rather less than the 

 fifth; hind toe about equal to its claw; sometimes the entire head above is reddish, 

 like the back. 



Length, about seven and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, three and fifty one- 

 hundredths inches. 



Hob. Eastern United States to the Mississippi. 



This beautiful Sparrow is very abundant in spring and 

 autumn in New England, arriving in spring early in March, 

 and departing for the North by the first week in April ; and 

 arriving in autumn from the North about the 10th of Octo- 

 ber, and departing for the South late in November. While 

 with us, it remains in low, moist thickets and woody pas- 

 tures ; and occasionally visits the stubble-fields and gardens, 

 where it busies itself in searching among the dead leaves 

 and weeds for its food of seeds and insects. It generally 

 has, while in New England, only a short, lisping note, occa- 

 sionally a pretty warble ; but it is said to have in its northern 

 home a beautiful song, that is excelled by that of hardly 

 any other species. Audubon, in describing the nest and 

 eggs, says, " The nest of the Fox-colored Sparrow, which 

 is large for the size of the bird, is usually placed on the 

 ground, among moss or tall grass, near the stem of a creep- 

 ing fir, the branches of which completely conceal it from 

 view. Its outside is loosely formed of dry grass and moss, 

 with a carefully disposed inner layer of finer grasses, circu- 

 larly arranged; and the lining consists of very delicate 

 fibrous roots, together with some feathers from different 

 species of water-fowls. The period at which the eggs are 

 laid is from the middle of June to the 5th of July. They 

 are proportionally large, four or five in number, rather 

 sharp at the smaller end, of a dull-greenish tint, sprinkled 

 with irregular small blotches of brown." Their dimensions 

 average about .86 by .62 inch. 



