THE OSPREY. 93 



lark, and yet another closely resembles some sets of the bobolink. The nest 

 is built in a similar manner to that of the Savanna sparrow, an excavation of 

 nearly an inch being made among long, fallen grass of last year's growth, and 

 the nest is seated in this excavation and built up about two inches above the 

 ground level. It is well concealed and would be diflicult to find were it not 

 that the bird is very particular as to the proper condition of grass, and as this 

 condition is rather unusual, one's search is reduced to a trifle. Towards the 

 eastern end of the island, where the crowberry {Empetrurn nignnn) grows 

 abundantly, a patch of it is often selected as a nesting site, and the task of 

 discovery becomes more difficult. 



The song resembles very closely that of our species, but the ending, instead 

 of being a grasshopper-like buzz, as with us, is aptly described by Dr. Dwight 

 as "pre-e-e-a." Reading these letters in a book conveyed no very definite idea 

 of the sound to my mind, but when I heard it I realized that not only was the 

 description very accurate, but that the sound was almost exactly the same as 

 the call of the tern, which, doubtless, the bird has acquired by dint of hearing 

 this cry thousands of times each day, all summer long. That such changes do 

 take place was proved to me some years ago by hearing a junco, that lived in a 

 region of white-throated sparrows, render his song, not a plain series of 

 "chips," as usual, but "chip-chip-chip. ...chip-chip-chip-,*' etc., in triplets, 

 exactly as the white-throat does. 



While the Ipswich sparrows are found during the migration as far south 

 as the Carolinas, it is a remarkable fact that a fair proportion of them reside 

 on Sable Island all winter, the number remaining being usually estimated at 

 about one-fifth of the total. During severe weather many of these are some- 

 times picked up exhausted and chilled, and are then sheltered and fed till a 

 better season arrives. And not only are the birds themselves thus cared for, 

 but the foxes, which are the chief enemies of this and other birds on Sable 

 Island, are unmercifully pursued at every opportunity, and' in the winter a 

 systematic attempt is made to kill them by traps, poison and the gun. Their 

 numbers are now very much reduced, and the work still proceeds, so that there 

 is quite a possibility of their utter extermination within a few years. 



NORTHERN PARULA WARBLER. 



By J. Merton Swain, Portland, Me. 



Although I have observed this sub-species as a common migrant in Frank- 

 lin County, Maine, and have felt positive that it has been breeding in the 

 northern part of the county for several years, yet I have never had the good 

 fortune to examine its nest, in situ, until the spring of 1900. And as usual, 



