376 'NESTS AND EGGS OF 



gush of silvery notes, and accompanied by a metallic tremolo." Several birds may 

 be seen running in the grass with lowered heads like quails, from which manner, 

 in some places they receive the name of "Quail-heads," and again they are given the 

 name of "Road-birds" from their habit of running along road-sides and feeding in 

 roads. Mr. Singley states that in Texas the Lark Finch often repairs old nests of the 

 Mockingbird and Orchard Oriole with a lining of grass, horse hairs, etc., and Mr. 

 Davis informs me that he has found its eggs in the nest of the Scissor-tailed Fly- 

 catcher. The nest, .however, is usually placed on the ground, sometimes in trees or 

 bushes. When on the ground it is generally sunken in a hollow, concealed by tufts 

 of grass or clover and it is hard to find, for the bird, like the Bobolink, has the 

 habit of running some distance from the nest before taking wing. The composition 

 varies according to the vegetable growth of the locality in which it is built; usually 

 grasses, clover and weed stems make up the structure. The eggs are three to five 

 in number, commonly four; they are pure white or they liave a faint bluish or 

 brownish tinge, speckled and marked with zig-zag, straight lines, of very dark brown 

 and black, chiefly at the larger end, like the eggs of the Baltimore Oriole, and in 

 exceptional cases it is impossible to differentiate the eggs of the two species. The 

 size of those of the Lark Sparrow vary from .76 to .89 in length by .59 to .68 in breadth. 



552a. WESTEEN LABK SPARROW. Chondestes grammacus strigatus 

 (Swains.) Geog. Dist. — Western United States from the Great Plains and Central 

 Texas south into Mexico. , 



This subspecies is common in Western United States, from the Plains and West- 

 ern Texas (where it breeds abundantly) to the Pacific. In California it nests on the 

 ground, in live oaks, sycamores, orange and lemon trees. Eggs .80x.60. 



553. HARRIS'S SPARROW. Zonotrichia querula (Nutt.) Geog. Dist.— Middle 

 United States, from Illinois, Missouri and Iowa west to middle Kansas and the 

 Dakotas, and from Texas north to Manitoba. Accidental on Vancouver Island and 

 in British Columbia and Oregon. [Accidental in Ohio, Davie.] 



The late Maj. Charles E. Bendire has given us (Auk, VI, pp. 150-152) an account 

 of what he supposed to be a nest and eggs of Harris's Sparrow. He says: "For the 

 purpose of drawing the attention of ornithologists located along the northern border 

 of Montana and the Dakotas, and throughout southern British North America, to the 

 fact that the nest of eggs of this interesting species remain still unknown, and to 

 the probability of its breeding in these regions, instead of further north, I will state 

 that none of the large collections of birds, nest and eggs made by the following gen- 

 tlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company, Robert McFarlane, Strachan Jones, T. Mc- 

 Dougall, Donald Gunn, C. P. Gaudet and J. Lockhart, and which were donated to the 

 Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C, contained specimens of this species, 

 although representing nearly every other bird to be found breeding throughout the 

 vast interior of the former Hudson Bay territory. The explorations made by these 

 gentlemen were thorough and continued through several seasons, and, chiefly 

 through the good efforts of Mr. Robert Kennicott, all their valuable fiela notes and an 

 immense amount of material were brought together. From the fact that no speci- 

 mens of Zonotrichia querula were obtained throughout the explorations; which ex- 

 tended well into the Arctic Circle, and began about the 54th parallel, I necessarily 

 believed that the summer home of Harris's Sparrow, if properly looked for, will be 

 found along the foothills of the Bearpaw and Chief Mountains in Montana, along 

 the Turtle Mountains in the Dakotas, and their centre of abundance probably near 

 Duck Mountain, Manitoba, as well as in suitable localities in the territories of Al- 



