60 FOX-COLOURED SPARROW. 



transported to the wilds of Labrador ; but how short was the duration of 

 these feelings ! — a hawk sailed over the spot of their concealment, and in 

 an instant all was silent as the tomb. 



The nest of the Fox-coloured Sparrow, which is large for the size of the 

 bird, is usually placed on the ground, among moss or tall grass, near the 

 stem of a creeping fir, the branches of which completely conceal it from 

 view. Its exterior is loosely formed of dry grass and moss, with a care- 

 fully disposed inner layer of finer grasses, circularly arranged ; and the 

 lining consists of very delicate fibrous roots, together with some feathers 

 from different species of water-fowl. In one instance I found it composed 

 of the down of the Eider-duck. The period at which the eggs are laid, 

 is from the middle of June to the 5th of July. They are proportionally 

 large, four or five in number, rather sharp at the smaller end, of a dull 

 greenish tint, sprinkled with irregular small blotches of brown. I think 

 that the description given in the splendid work of my friends Swainson 

 and Richardson, of the eggs of this species, must have been taken from 

 those of the White- crowned Bunting, as it agrees precisely with eggs which 

 I have found in many nests of that bird. 



When one approaches the nest, the female affects lameness, and em- 

 ploys aU the usual arts to decoy him from it. They raise only one brood 

 in the season. The young, before they depart for the United States, 

 already resemble their parents, which have by this time lost much of the 

 orilliancy of their colouring. They leave Labrador about the 1st of Sep- 

 tember, in small groups, formed each of a single family. When in that 

 country, and in Newfoundland, I frequently observed them searching 

 along the shores for minute shell-fish, on which they feed abundantly. 



Many of these birds are frequently offered for sale in the markets of 

 Charleston, they being easily caught in " figure-of-four traps !"" Their 

 price is usually ten or twelve cents each. I saw many in the aviaries of 

 my friends Dr Samuel Wilson and the Reverend John Bachman, of 

 that city. To the former I am indebted for the following particulars re- 

 lative to this species, part of which I was myself witness to. 



Dr Wilson, who was almost in the daily habit of visiting my friend 

 Bachman, with whom it was my good fortune to reside while at Charles- 

 ton, was fond of talking about birds, many of which he knew more accu- 

 rately than ordinary ornithologists are wont to do. " My Dear Mr Au- 

 dubon," he said, " I have several beautiful Fox-coloured SpaiTows in my 

 aviary, but of late some of them have been killed, and I wish you would 



