56 



tailed Sparrow's flight-song; on July 1, 1902, at the same 

 marsh a male of this species settled on the top of a reed only 

 a few feet from where I was sitting, and sang several times 

 a wheezing, almost whispered, " o-whee-oo." These are the 

 only times I have heard Nelson's Sparrow utter any notes 

 except a sharp " chip " when frightened, and a gentle twitter 

 when running on the mud flats. 



My search for the nest has been in vain, but one day m 

 June, 1902, as Mr. Charles W. Bowman of Devil's Lake, 

 North Dakota, was passmg over some rather low prairie 

 covered with a heavy growth of grass near a small slough 

 that lies near an arm of Sweetwater Lake, a small bird flew 

 up at his feet. He soon found the nest and five eggs, but 

 their identity was a question ; they were evidently nothing 

 with which he was acquainted. He returned to the nest on 

 several occasions, but as he approached the female would 

 start from the nest and after a short flight hide in the grass 

 from which she could not be dislodged. On June 12, he 

 shot her as she flew from the nest, and found her to be a 

 Nelson's Sparrow. The nest was large and bulky, of fine 

 dry grass, well woven together, and was sunken in the 

 ground. It measured externally 2i inches in depth by 3|- 

 in breadth, and internally, 2 inches m depth by 1| ui 

 breadth. The five eggs were ahnost hatched, and what 

 remains of them, as well as the female and nest, are now 

 in my collection, thanks to the kindness of Mr. Bowman. 



These eggs resemble those of A. caudacutus, but are much 

 smaller, with the markmgs redder, more regularly confluent 

 at the larger end and less concealing the ground color over 

 the rest of the shell. The ground color is bluish Avhite, 

 which is thickly speckled with dots and scratches of walnut 

 brown. The three whose measurements can be taken give 

 .69 inches by .55, .69 by .54 and .70 by .54. 



The eggs of this species have been described before, but, 

 I believe, this is the first instance in which the parent has 

 been collected, thus rendermg their identification certain. 



