80 



SOME CANADIAN BIUDa 



FOX SPARROW. 



This bird derives its name frona the ricli, rusty-red tint that is the 

 prevailing color of its pluiuuge. On the back there are streaks of 

 an ashy tint, and the under parts are mostly white, though heavily 

 streaked with the red, while on the wings are two bars of white, 

 but the red is so conspicuous that, at a short distance, the bird 

 appears to be entirely covered with that color. 



Large tiocks of these sparrows pass through the country during 

 the migrations, yet few persons have seen them. The times of the 

 year in which they migrate, and the quiet, and rather retiring 

 habits of the birds, will account for this. They make the journeys 

 just on the edges of the winter, entering our southern borders in 

 March, passing northward to their breeding grounds in Labrador, 

 and the Hudson Bay district, and visiting us again in October, 

 on their way southward. In the autumn they keep within the 

 deeper woo-is, and as they utter, at this time, no other sound than 

 a metallic cheep, they escape notice. 



