BIRDS 253 



Seven specimens. An adult female and a juvenile 

 male, Cochrane River, July 26 ; an adult male, 

 Cochrane River, July 30. " Male and female with 

 fledged young," a female, and young bird, Coch- 

 rane River, July 31 ; a female, Cochrane River, 

 August 3, " bird in company with others, pro- 

 bably her fully fledged young " ; an adult female, 

 Lake Du Brochet, August 6 — adult's " bill dull 

 sienna-brown," juveniles' " bill blackish brown, 

 yellow along edges of mandibles and at corners of 

 mouth." So little is known of the early plumage 

 of this sparrow that a description of the young 

 of July 31 may not be out of place : " Length 

 3*75 in. ; pileum with feathers brownish black, 

 indistinctly edged with greyish buff, producing 

 a dark crown with a few greyish-buff spots ; 

 throat and chin greyish buff, throat with a few 

 blackish-brown spots; chest brownish buff streaked 

 with brownish black ; flanks buff with brown 

 streaks ; rest of under parts buffy white. Above 

 brown streaked with black, upper tail coverts 

 brownish buff, tail darker than in adult ; wing 

 coverts tipped with buff. 



Three observed south end lie a la Crosse Lake, 

 May 24. Their first encountered breeding haunts 

 were found on the Cochrane River about latitude 

 58°. Country fairly mountainous, and the hillside, 

 which the birds frequented, was bare of tall 

 growth, and bouldered and thickly strewn with 

 dead timber — for at some past date the country- 

 side had been swept by forest-fire. Small spruce 

 and scrub pine, of a height of two feet to six feet, 

 grew here and there, while willows, tamarack, 

 and small spruce grew somewhat more densely 

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