68 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



those of the Emheriza viilkiria of Europe. Its uiiinusiciil notes are almo.st 

 continuously reiieated from sunrise to sunset. When the feiuiile is startled 

 from her nest she creeps quietly away througli the grass, and then hides her- 

 self, making no coni]ilaint, and not slutwing herself even if her treasures are 

 taken from her. Their nests are constructed of coar.se grasses and stems, 

 lined with finer and similar materials. They are, in certain localities, placed 

 (ju the ground, but more frecjueii; , in many parts of tiio country, they are 

 built in positions above the groui.d. This is almost invariably the ca.se 

 where they nest among the tall coarse grasses of the prairies. My attention 

 was first called to this peculiarity by Dr. J. W. Velie, then of JJock 

 Island, 111. He informed me that in no instance had he found the nest of 

 this species on the ground, but always raised a few inches above it. It was 

 usiuilly constructed of the tops of the red-top grasses, worked in among a 

 bunch of thick grass, so as to make the nest quite firm. The meadows in 

 which Dr. Velie found these nests were quite dry, so that there was no neces- 

 sity for their thus building clear from the ground in order to escape being 

 Avet. I was afterwards informed by the late Mr. Robert Kenuieott that his 

 experience in regard to the nests of these birds had been invariably the 

 same. Dr. P. Jl. Hoy, of Iiacine, is confident that these birds in Wisconsin 

 never nest on the ground, or else very rarely, as ho has never noticed their 

 doing so. He writes that during one season he visited and made notes of 

 nineteen diflerent nests. Ttm of these were built in gooseberry-bushes, four 

 on thorn-bushes, three among blackberry-l)rambles, one on a rasi)berry-bush, 

 and one on a wild rose. Xone were within a foot of the ground, and some 

 were six feet from it. They have two broods in a .season. 



On the other hand, Mr. lUdgway informs me that in Southern Illinois the 

 nest of this species is always placed on the ground, usually in a meadow, and 

 that he has never found its nest ])laced anywhere else than on the ground, in 

 a tuft of grass or clover. ProfesstJr Baird has had a similar e-xperience in 

 Penn.sylvania. Mr. B. V. (loss found them nesting both in bushes and on 

 the ground at Neosho Falls, Kansas. 



The eggs of this species are of a uniform light blue color, similar in shade 

 to the eggs of the common Bluebird, as also to those of the Colamospiza hi- 

 color. They vary considerably in size, the smallest measuring .80 of an inch 

 in length by .GO in breadth, while the larger and more conuuon size is .90 by 

 .70 of an inch. 



Euspiza townsendi, Bonap. 



TOWNSENS'S BTTNTING. 



Emheriza Inwnsrndi, Am. Oni. liioj;. II, 1S:U, 1S3 ; V, 90, jil. cccc. — In. Syii. 1839.— 

 111. Hiids Ain. Ill, 1841, 62, iil. civii. — Nrn'Ai.i,, Miin. I, (2a ed.,) 1840, 528. Euspiza 

 towimmll, Bon. List, 1838. - iJ.uui), liirds \. Am. 1858, 495. 



Sn. CiiAK. 2f(ile. T'piicr p.aits. lic.id and neck idl I'onnd, .sido.s of liodv nnd forop.irt of 

 bruiist, sldto-liliic; tli<^ hfick and upper .siuracc of wiiicr.s Uiii,'ed with yoUowisli-brown ; the 



