a Sea MERRILL, Birds of Fort Sherman, Idaho. 347 
is almost certain, however, that true avenacea does not breed in 
Texas, and the eggs mentioned by Mr. Norris were doubtless 
those of the common Field Sparrow or of the slightly paler but 
equally small bird resident in some portions of that State. The 
eggs of true arenacea will probably be found to average somewhat 
larger than those of the eastern bird. 
NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF FORT SHERMAN, IDAHO. 
BY J. C. MERRILL, 
Major and Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
Fort SHERMAN is situated in the northern part of the State of 
Idaho in latitude 47° 40’, longitude 116° 30’, and at an elevation 
of a little less than two thousand feet. The Idaho-Montana 
boundary line, formed here by the divide of the Bitterroot 
Mountains, is about seventy miles distant due east; that of Idaho- 
Washington is about eleven miles west, and that of British 
Columbia about ninety-five miles north. 
The fort is on the northern shore of the northwestern arm of 
Lake Coeur d’Aléne, in the angle between the lake shore and the 
head of Spokane River, which is the outlet of the lake and empties 
into the Columbia about seventy-five miles north of west from the 
lake. The latter is nearly twenty-four miles in length, compara- 
tively narrow in most parts, and its general trend is north and 
south. The Coeur d’Aléne Mountains, north and east of the 
lake, are a continuation of the Bitterroot range; in them arises 
the Coeur d’Aléne River, flowing into the southern end of the 
lake, and, still further south, the St. Joseph River forms the other 
principal tributary. The hills—they can hardly be called moun- 
tains —that encircle the lake are covered to the shores with a thick 
growth of pines and firs of two or three species, with tamaracks 
scattered throughout. Where streams flow into the lake there are 
often flats of a few acres in extent, subject to overflow in the 
