4S8 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



the first week in August. During the second season, the first eggs 

 were taken July 6th, and at that time there were already plenty 

 of young birds flying. The laying-season must consequently 

 reach over a period of at least two months. I was not on the 

 ground early enough to determine the commencement exactly, 

 but supposing a two weeks' incubation, and about the same 

 length of time occupied in rearing the young in the nest, the first 

 batch of eggs must be laid early in June to give the sets of young 

 which fly by the first of July. There is obviously time for the first 

 pair to get a second, if not a third, brood off their hands by the 

 end of August; I should say that certainly two, and probably 

 three, broods are reared, as a rule. The result of all this is that 

 from the end of June until the end of August young birds in every 

 state of plumage, and the parents in various degrees of wear and 

 tear, are all found together. The nest, of course, is placed on the 

 ground, usually beneath some little tuft of grass or weeds, which 

 effectually conceals it. Like that of other ground-building 

 sparrows, it is sunk flush with the surface of the ground, thin at 

 the bottom, but with thicker and tolerably firm brim ; it con- 

 sists simply of a few grasses and weed-stems for the most part 

 circularly disposed. In size, the cup is about 3^ inches across 

 the brim and nearly 2 in depth. During the first season, I onlyfound 

 four eggs or young in a nest; but I afterward took one containing 

 six eggs. These measure about | long by f broad, of an ordinary 

 shape. They are difficult to describe as to colour, for the marking 

 is intricate as well as very variable here as elsewhere in the 

 genus. I have called them " grayish-white " more or less clouded 

 and mottled with pale purplish gray which confers the prevailing 

 tone; this is overlaid with numerous surface markings of points, 

 scratches and small spots of dark brown, wholly indeterminate in 

 distribution and number, but always conspicuous, being sharply 

 displayed upon the subdued ground colour. On those occasions 

 when I approached a nest containing eggs, the female usually 

 walked off quietly, after a little flutter, to some distance, and then 

 took wing; at other times, however, when there were young in 

 the nest, both parents hovered close overhead, with continuous 

 cries. {Coues.) 



MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 



Seven; three taken at Indian Head, Assa., in September, 1891, 

 and May, 1892, one at Medicine Hat, Assa., May, 1894, and 



