460 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



species is confined to tracts of low, swampy ground, or the margins 

 of brush-littered woods, where there is an intermingling of low 

 brushwood, creeping vines, tall grasses and fallen timber; but the 

 half -burnt swamps are its peculiar home, from the early days of April 

 until the advent of autumn; and here through all the summer-time 

 its clear, loud whistling song is among the most conspicuous of all 

 the bird melody that affects the otherwise unpleasant scenery." A 

 bog or a burn are particularly desirable habitats for the White- 

 throated Sparrow because of its fondness for berries. Judd ('01, 

 p. 74) mentions some of' the leading fruits sought for by the White- 

 throat in summer, with the statement that " from July to November, 

 inclusive, one- fourth of its food consists of berries." In the Adiron- 

 dack plateau it eats such fruits as blueberry, wild cherry, mountain 

 ash, sarsaparilla, elder, blackberry, dogwood and cranberry. Other 

 kinds of food, however, are eaten by the White-throat. Once this 

 summer I observed an adulit of this sparrow while gathering food for 

 its nestlings enter the open end of a decayed log lying obliquely on the 

 sphagnum. As the sparrow already had quite a mouthful of insect 

 larvae it had gathered from the moss, I pondered the reason for its 

 entering the log. Upon inspecting the open cavity, however, after 

 the bird had quickly emerged from the interior, I found a col- 

 ony of large black ants just inside the opening, and I inferred that 

 the Sparrow had added a nice juicy ant as a tidbit to the supply it 

 was carrying home. On another occasion I surprised an adult White- 

 throat foraging among aspens fringing the Burn, and it flew to a 

 perch near me with a large green caterpillar in it mouth. On being 

 disturbed unexpectedly, however, as it had not obtained a firm hold 

 upon its victim, the latter dropped to the ground. The sparrow 

 quickly flew down to recover its prize, but before it could get it, 

 I had myself captured it as a specimen of White-throat diet. 



This is one of the commonest of the breeding birds at Cran- 

 berry Lake, but is so artful in" concealing its nest that to find the 

 exact location frequently baffles the keenest observer. I have often 

 hunted persistently for nests of this sparrow without success, and 

 at other times chanced on a nest by mere accident. A nest of the 

 White-throat at Barber Point was made in a low raspberry bush 

 among enveloping low shrubs just beside a narrow trail used every- 

 day through the Habitation Clearing. The nest was not found 

 until July 24, for it was at a place where a survey party had 

 lopped off some saplings and thrown them beside the trail; under 

 this partial screen the White-throats constructed their home in the 

 bush, so carefully concealed and so quietly made that it 

 was not discovered until the female was sitting closely on her eggs. 

 As the date was rather late, and the nest complement in this case 

 only three eggs, this was probably an instance of second nesting; 

 moreover, one of the three eggs was infertile, and only two young 

 left the nest. During the construction of this nest, and while the 

 female was sitting, there was no indication by the singing of the 

 male near by that a nest was at hand, for to my knowledge he never 



