On the Breedi?ig of Song-Sparrows. 331


They seem to be stronger than last year’s brood, and at the

present date (July 22nd) they are able to reach the highest perch

by flying, and to occasionally find their own food.


At this age the sexes are not distinguishable. But I may

add to my former report that the young reared in 1904 proved

to be two males and one female. They have not shown an

inclination to breed.


P.S.—The young are doing well and are now independent

of their parents.



THE BREEDING OF SONG-SPARROWS.


I am not aware of a published record of the breeding

in captivity of any species of Zonotricliia, and therefore the

rearing, in my aviary, of hybrids between two species of this

genus may be worth recording.


In the winter of 1903-4 I obtained two females of the

Chingolo or Pileated Song-Sparrow ( Z. pileata) from a dealer,

which, during the following spring and summer, built nests, laid

full clutches of eggs and sat steadily, but of course without

result. I was therefore most anxious if possible to obtain a male

of this species, but all efforts in this direction entirely failed.

In the early spring of the present year, however, I was fortunate

in obtaining the loan of a male of the White-eyebrowed Song-

Sparrow, Z. lencophrys, a handsome grey bird with the crown

striped with black and white. When this bird was first intro¬

duced the two females commenced to fight between themselves

for the possession of the handsome stranger, and one was in

consequence removed to another aviary. In May a nest, com¬

posed of coarse hay and lined with fine hay, was built by the

remaining female in a thick clump of sticks and rubbish, which

was fastened up some eight feet from the ground. I am told that,

in a wild state, these birds build on or close to the ground, but

apparently there was no nesting site in this position that was

quite to my bird’s liking. *



* Another ground-nesting bird, a Lapland Bunting, has this year built her nest

about six feet from the ground, which simply shows how ready birds are to adapt

themselves to their surroundings.



