TOWNSEND AND ALLEN: LABRADOR BIRDS. 397 



Zonotrichia leucophrys (Forst.). 

 White-crowned Sparrow. 



Abundant summer resident. 



This is probably the most common sparrow in Labrador, as, al- 

 though it is a bird of the Hudsonian zone it encroaches on the Arctic 

 zone, breeding contentedly among the stunted fir and spruce bushes 

 in sheltered ravines along the entire wind-swept coast as well as in the 

 forested region of the interior. Audubon, Stearns, Frazar, and Palmer 

 speak of it on the southern coast. Coues, Weiz, Packard, and Bigelow 

 found it along the eastern coast. Turner found it "very plentiful" and 

 "breeding abundantly at Fort Chimo." Low says it is "very com- 

 mon" on the upper Hamilton River and Spreadborough found it 

 "very abundant from Richmond Gulf across Ungava to Fort Chimo." 



Audubon says they reach Labrador about June 1st. Frazar 

 observed them first at Esquimaux Point on May 18th, and Low noted 

 them on May 16th on the upper Hamilton River. Audubon found 

 a nest and five eggs on July 6th at American Harbor. Low obtained 

 eggs on June 25th on the upper Hamilton River. Macoun records 

 eggs from Whale River in June, four sets of four eggs each; one set 

 of four taken at Fort Chimo in June; one set of four taken at Nachvak. 

 in June, and one set of three from an island in James Bay on June 23d. 



We found the White-crowned Sparrow everywhere in Labrador 

 not only on the bleak coast, wherever there were sheltering ravines 

 but also in the forested region at Cape Charles, St. Lewis Inlet, Cart- 

 wright, and Rigolet. It was the common dooryard bird and was 

 frequently to be seen hopping about the fish stages and tilts, where, 

 without their shelter, we should not have expected to have found this 

 bird of the Hudsonian zone. We even saw one singing from the 

 cross-stay at the main-mast head of a schooner anchored close to the 

 shore at White Bear Island, one of the bleakest outer islands. Mr. 

 W. B. Cabot told us of seeing one hopping along the body of a sleeping 

 Eskimo dog, picking at the flies that surrounded him. The call note 

 of this bird as we heard it in Labrador was characteristic and easily 

 recognized, a metallic chink. Its alarm note was a sharp chip. Its 

 song we often heard even in foggy and wet weather. When singing 

 in a tree the bird generally sat concealed near the trunk several feet 

 from the top. We also heard the song from the sod-covered roofs 

 of the houses and, as just mentioned, from the rigging of a schooner. 



