layer of the lining. Besides the materials mentioned, bits of paper and rags, strings, and the like, are 

 now and then used in construction. The external diameter measures between four and five inches. The 

 cavity is ver}'- regular and smooth, and measures in diameter from two and one-fourth to two and three- 

 fourths inches ; the average is about two and three-eighths. The depth of cavity varies from one and 

 one-fourth to two inches ; the average is about one and five-eighths. 



EGGS : 



The usual complement of the first set of eggs is five or six, rarely seven. The second set contains 

 one or two less than the first; and the third set, one less than the second. They are about as uniform 

 in size and shape as the eggs of other birds of the family, but are very variable in coloration. The 

 ground-color of the shell is sometimes as blue as that of the Chipping Sj^arrow, and sometimes is a muddy 

 brown. Usually it is a faint, dull blue. The quantity of the markings vary from a few blotches and 

 S23ots to almost a solid color. Some eggs have a well-formed wreath about the crown, either of confluent 

 or distinct blotches, spots, and specks ; othei'S are as closely and uniformly speckled as the eggs of the 

 House Wren. Between these extremes, all combinations are common. The color of the marks is always 

 a reddish-brown ; sometimes dull and dirty, but oi'dinarily clear. Deep shell-markings are a neutral tint. 



The average size of forty-six eggs is .77 x .59. The greatest long-diameter measures .83; the least 

 long-diameter, .70; the greatest short-diameter, .60; the least short-diameter, .52. The eggs of a set are, 

 generally, nearly the same size and shape, and are marked after the same pattern; but, occasionally one 

 egg is much smaller or larger than the rest, and contains more or not so many marks, and these arranged 

 after a different pattern. This peculiarity does not, however, belong to the Song Sparrow's egg alone. 



DIFFEREI^TIAL POmTS : 

 See table. 



REMAEKS : 



The illustration represents a nest and eggs, discovered May 15, 1881. It was situated in a slight 

 depression in a bank, sloping to a stream of water, and was protected only by the blades of blue-grass 

 which surrounded it. The position is a characteristic one. The eggs in the nest are so in shadow that 

 the average and extremes in size, color, and marking have been represented on a line beneath. 



From Dr. J. M.Wheaton's forthcoming report of Ohio birds, I take pleasure in making the following 

 quotation: "That this bird has a strong attachment to its nest; and, also, that it possesses mental quali- 

 ties akin to reason, was happily illustrated by a pair observed by me in June, 1875. Their nest had 

 been built upon the ground, within a few feet of the track of the Little Miami Railroad, about a mile 

 west of this city, (Columbus, Ohio.) Some laborers, in clearing away the undergrowth and cutting the o-rass 

 along the track, had discovered the nest and removed it, placing it very insecurely on a fork of a hori- 

 zontal limb of a maple sapling, about three feet from the trunk. Instead of deserting the nest, as many 

 birds would have done, or attempting to secure it to the limb on which it was placed, the birds gathered 

 long stems of timothy-grass, and fastened them by twisting the tops together and around a limb extending 

 over the nest, at a distance of nearly one and a half feet. The lower ends of these stems were firmly fast- 

 ened into the rim of the nest, and other stems were knitted in transversely, forming a pretty, complete 

 basket-work. The whole structure resembled an elongated hollow cone, or inverted balloon. The only open- 

 ings sufficiently large to admit the passage of the birds, were an entrance over the limb at the fork, and an 

 exit directly opposite. In this remarkable structure the eggs were hatched, and the young safely raised." 

 In regard to the materials used in the construction of the nest. Dr. Wheaton says: "It is composed 

 mainly of leaves and grass, and lined with fine grass, rarely with horse-hair, perhaps with good reason, 

 for I found two unfortunate females who had ensnared themselves in attempting to use this material." 



112 



