92 THE OSPREY. 



experiment, but for the little birds who made this strange island their only 

 home, and my ears were on the qui vive for the first notes; and although it 

 was foggy and rainy, as we approached the superintendent's house I could hear 

 some sparrow -like chirps, and in a moment or two I heard the first song of the 

 Ipswich sparrow, and was delighted to think that I would have them at such 

 close range as the front yard of the house in which I was to stay. They 

 proved to be very common, and one could hardly go to the door without seeing 

 on the board walk which stretched away through the hay field, a pair or more, 

 while their song could be beard at almost every moment of the day from the 

 same point of observation. 



The Ipswich sparrow, which was the chief attraction to me on Sable Island, 

 is an insular race of the Savanna sparrow of eastern North America. In the 

 struggle for existence for thousands of years on this bleak little island, the bird 

 has become considerably larger and and much paler than the continental form. 

 The increase in length is about 13mm., or 8 per cent. The breeding ground of 

 this bird was for many years unknown, and not until 1894 was the bird fully 

 studied and written upon. Previous to that time it was known as a migrant 

 from Geoi-gia to Maine and Nova Scotia, and was a straggler to Newfoundland, 

 but it then disappeared from sight, though it was vainly hunted in the breed- 

 ing season on Prince Edward and Cape Breton islands and in Newfoundland. 

 At last a few shrewd gnessers surmised that it must breed on Sable Island, and 

 finall}' a skin sent from there in summer settled the matter, but its summer 

 history was not known until Dr. Jonathan Dwight, jun., of New York, braved 

 the inconveniences of the passage to the island, and spent three happy weeks 

 there in May and June, studying the summer habits, song, etc., of this interest- 

 ing species. Shortly afterwards he published a complete and very interesting 

 monograph of this sparrow, including also an account of the history, climate 

 and other features of the island, thus giving to the world the details that had 

 so long been wanting. 



I was far more favored in my visit than he, as the season was more ad- 

 vanced, and the weather brighter and more favorable, and I found that the 

 intervening period of tinie had been auspicious for the sparrows, as they were 

 much more abundant than he represented them to be in 1894. I found many 

 nests, most of them being incomplete, but in seven instances I was able to take 

 sets of eggs, four containing 5 eggs, and the remaining three 4, showmg a 

 marked difference from the Savanna sparrow, which almost invariably lays 4 



near London. 



The variation in the colors and markings of eggs is very great, some 

 resembling those of the Savanna sparrow; others with a lighter ground and 

 larger blotches resemble those of the Vesper sparrow, while one set has very 

 small spots and is of a general slaty hue, resembling the eggs of the horned 



