108 BENDIRE ox the Habits of the Genus Passerella. [April 
me that its nests and eggs have been taken by collectors within 
recent years. It does not appear to breed within the limits of the 
United States excepting in the Territory of Alaska. In addition 
to the authorities given by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway in their 
‘History of North American Birds,’ Vol. II, pages 50 to 53 inclu- 
sive, Mr. M. Harvey states in ‘Forest and Stream,’ Vol. VII, p. 
99, that it breeds in Newfoundland, where it is called Hedge 
Sparrow, sometimes building its nest on the ground, and some- 
times in bushes. 
Mr. M. Abbott Frazar saw a pair at Hegaska, Labrador, in 
August, 1884, with their young, and Mr. Ernest E. T. Seton in 
his list oh.the birds of Manitoba in ‘The Auk,’ Vol. Il, July, 
1886, p. 324, writes that it breeds abundantly on Duck Mountain, 
Manitoba, but says nothing about taking their nests and eggs. 
Col. N. S. Goss tells me that he found these birds breeding on 
Bryon Isle, one of the Magdalen group in the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence in July, 1879 or 18S0, but he was too late for eggs, they 
having then fully fledged young. It appears to be abundant during 
the breeding season throughout the greater portion of British 
North America, reaching well up to the Arctic Circle. 
According to Mr. Robert McFarlane the Fox Sparrow nests on 
the ground as well as in low trees and bushes. Eggs of this 
species were taken at Moose Factory, Hudson Bay Territory, as 
early as June 2, 1860, and at Fort Resolution, Great Slave Lake, 
June t, 1864. Most of the nests found by Mr. McFarlane were 
placed in low bushes, a foot or two from the ground; in one 
instance a nest of this species was found in a small tree eight feet 
up. The nests are constructed out of coarse dry grasses exter- 
nally, lined with finer material of the same kind, as well as hair, 
moss, and feathers. A nest now before me, No. 4411, National 
Museum collection, collected by C. Drexler at Moose Factory, 
June 2, 1860, containing four fresh eggs, was placed ina pine 
bush, two feet up, and well concealed from view. On the outside 
this nest is five inches wide, by three inches deep, inside three 
inches wide by two inches in depth. 
Sir John Richardson states that the eggs are five in number, of 
a pale, mountain-green tint, and marbled with irregular spots of 
brown. Judging from the records here, I am inclined to believe 
that four eggs usually completes a set, and that five is rather an 
exceptional number. In the eggs of this species before me, 36 
