NOBTB AMERICAN BIRDS. 377 



berta and Assiniboia, south of Lat. 54°. During the summer of 1885, while I was sta- 

 tioned at Port Custer, Montana, one of my men, who was well posted about the birds 

 of that region, and helped me to collect a good many, while out hunting one day 

 found a nest and four eggs of some sparrow, without, unfortunately, securing the 

 parent, and brought them in for me. I saw at a glance that these eggs were new to 

 me, and visited the place where the nest was found next day, in the hope of possibly 

 still finding the owners about the locality, but failed in this. The eggs in question 

 ■differ materially in coloration from those of the other species of Zonotrichia, as well 

 as from those of the genera Passerella, Uelospiza, and Pipilo, all of which are rep- 

 resented by good series in the National Museum collection. The nest was found 

 June 24, 1885, in a dense willow thicket close to the banks of Little Horn River, 

 about one and a half miles above the post. It v/as placed between several young 

 willow twigs, about eight or ten inches from the ground, compactly built of strips 

 of decayed willow bark, coarse grasses, etc., and lined with finer materials of the 

 same kind. Outwardly the nest was about four and a half inches wide by three 

 deep; the inner cavity was two and a half inches wide by two in depth. In its gen- 

 eral make-up it resembled the average nest of a Passerella. The eggs contained 

 small embryos. They resemble certain types of Cardinal's eggs {Cardinalis 

 cardinalis) more than anything else, but are considerably smaller. There is no trace 

 of green whatever noticeable in their ground color. This green tint is always found 

 to a greater or less extent in all the eggs of the genera ZonotricMa and Passerella, and 

 with rare exceptions in Melospiza as well, while here, it is a creamy or buffy white, 

 and the shell is also more lustrous. The eggs are thickly spotted and blotched with 

 dark brown and burnt umber, and more or less mixed with pale heliotrope purple 

 and purplish gray. They are ovate in shape, and measure .89x.70, .88x.69, .86x.69 and 

 .85X.65 inches. I am certain that these eggs are not those of the Cardinal, which is 

 not found as far north as Fort Custer and would surely have been noticed by me, if 

 it occurred there, and unless they should be .abnormally colored eggs of Pipilo 

 maculatus arcticus, which is barely possible, although also rather small for this 

 species, they will certainly prove to be those of Harris's* Sparrow. While I do not 

 believe that it is a constant and common summer resident in the vicinity of Fort 

 Custer, it probably breeds there as a straggler; I failed to meet with this species 

 during the summer, but found it not at all uncommon during its fall migration. 

 Specimens shot by me in the early part of October are now in the National Museum 

 collection. I found them associated with White-crowned Sparrows and Arctic Tow- 

 hees principally, scattered in small flocks through the undergrowth along the Big 

 and Little Horn River bottoms, and it seems to confine itself to the shrubbery found 

 along the streams. Specimens were shot by me as late as October 21, 1885." On the 

 28th of April, 1889, Mr. J. E. Gould shot a specimen of Harris's Sparrow two miles 

 north of Colurnbus, Ohio. Four or five others were observed feeding in a thicket in 

 company with the White-throated Sparrow, Z. allncollis. Mr. Gould generously pre- 

 sented me with the specimen of Z. guerula, the skin of which is now in my collection. 

 The identification of this specimen, previously considered by the writer to be Z. 

 querula was, through the kind assistance of Mr. Chas. F. Batchelder positively de- 

 termined. This, I believe is the first record of its occurrence in Ohio. The bird in 

 this case has wandered, a long way out of its ordinary habitat. Mr. Rudolph M. 

 Anderson in his Birds of Winnebago and Hancock Counties, Iowa, says: "Harris's 

 (or Black-hooded) Sparrow is rather a common migrant in September and October. 

 Have seen a few specimens in the early part of May. Spring and fall plumages differ 

 considerably.'"* 



» An Annotated List of the Birds of Winnebago and Hancock Counties, Iowa. Being 

 a list of birds observed in the Counties of Winnebago and Hancock, State of Iowa, with 

 brief notes on the same. Forest City, Iowa. Printed by the Author, 1897. 



