150 SPIZELLA PALLIDA, CLAY-COLOEED SPARROW. 



wbat the habits of the Red-poll, feeding on the buds of the elm and 

 otijer trees in early spriuff." 



It is singular that the eggs of our Sjiizdlw should differ so much 

 ;iiiK)ng themselves, for the rule is that con^t^neric birds lay similar eggs. 

 Thus, A', moniicola lays an egg like that of Melospiz<( ; the egg of *S'. pu- 

 niJla is not distinguishable from that of Jimco, except in size, and is 

 altogether different irom the clear green, blackish-dotted eggs of iS. 

 .wi'ialin and pallida. 



The Clay-colored Sparrow's nest abundantly in Dakota, and especially 

 ahjiig the Red River, in the oi)en, low underbrush by the river-side, and 

 a;uong the innumerable s("rub-willow copses of the valley. They pair 

 here the latter part of May, when the males come into full song; the 

 nests are built and the complement of eggs laid, usually by the middle 

 of June. During this month, while the females are incubating, the 

 males mount the tops of the bushes and sin;;;' continually — indeed I know 

 of no more assiduous and persistent songster than this little l^ird is, al- 

 though his vocal eifbrts are of an humble sort. His ditty is a simple 

 stave of three notes and a slight trill — nothing like the continuous song 

 of the Chill-bird. lu places where the birds are plentiful, several males 

 may be in sight at once, each on his own bush-clump, while his mate is 

 ue.iting below. As soon as incubation is over, the habit is entirely 

 changed, and the males become as inconspicuous as their consorts. The 

 l)airing season, during which the males msiy be seen continually chasing 

 the females about in the bushes, is of short duration ; and, prelimina- 

 ries adjusted, both birds set to work in earnest at their nest, with such 

 success that it is completed and the eggs laid in a week or two. Most 

 of my nests were taken during the first two weeks in June. In one case, 

 in which I visited a nest daily, I found that an egg was laid each day, 

 till the complement of four was filled. I ha ve not found more than four 

 eggs in a nest, and sometimes only three. They are of a light-green 

 ci)!(ji, rather scantily and sharply speckled with sienna and other rich 

 shades of brown — sometimes very dark brown. Generally the dotting 

 i:, chiefly confined to the larger end, with only a speck here and there 

 over the general surface ; the dots are sometimes in an area at the butt, 

 sometimes partially confluent and wreathed around it. The eggs meas- 

 ure about 0.62 by 0..50. The nest is always placed low ; I never found 

 oLc .so high as a yard from the ground, and generally took nests within 

 a tew inches, in the crotch of a willow or other shrub, or in a tuft of 

 weeds. The nest is inartistically built of fine dried grass-stems and the 

 slenderer weed-stalks, with perhaps a few rootlets ; it is sometimes lined 

 quite thickly with horse-hair, sometimes not, then having instead some 

 very fine grass-tops. It varies a good deal in size and shape, according 

 to its situation, but may average about three inches across by two deep, 

 with a cavity two inches wide by one and a half deep. In those cases 

 where I approached the setting bird, she left the nest when 1 was a few 

 steps away, and fluttered directly into concealment, without attempting 

 any artifice or venturing to protest against the spoliation of her home. 



it is most probable that two broods may be reared, even in this high 

 latitude, but I cannot so assert, as I found no nests nor heard the nup- 

 tial songs after June. In July the birds appear in greater nunjbers than 

 cvei, from the accession of the year's broods, and now go in little troops 

 in the shrubbery along with several other kinds of Sparrows. I found 

 them in all wooded and shrubby situations in Dakota, but never out on 

 tije high prairie. Eaily in the fall, in Dakota, they are joined by num- 

 bers of Lincoln's, Gambel's, and Harris's Finches, all of which flutter 

 thiough the shrubbery together. They deftart for the South early in 



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