CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 469 



towards the interior of the peninsula;^ young were half-fledged 

 by July loth. {Grinnell.) Six breeding specimens taken between 

 June 1st and July 27th, and three in winter plumage, illustrate 

 this species as seen at Point Barrow, Alaska. {WitTtter Stone!) 

 A few were seen and four specimens taken at Hope and Tyonek, 

 Cook's Inlet, Alaska, September, 1900. {Osgood.) I saw several 

 Savanna sparrows in the marshes at Chilkat Inlet, June ist, 1899, 

 and took individuals at Haine's Mission and at Skagway and 

 others at Glacier, Alaska; several pairs were seen at Log Cabin 

 on Lake Benne'tt, at Cariboo Crossing and on an island in Lake 

 Tagish, B.C.; later they were seen on Lake Marsh, Lat. 60° 15', in 

 the Yukon district; after this none was seen until we reached 

 the Alaska boundary, after this they were found at Circle City, 

 Charlie Village and at the Aphoon, mouth of the Yukon, and at 

 St. Michael. {Bishop.) From June to September of 1901 eight 

 specimens in all were seen at Homer and Sheep Creek near the 

 Kenai Mountains, Alaska. Found breeding on the low sandy 

 spit at Homer. Its nest was well concealed in coarse grass. It 

 was entirely covered and the entrance to the three nests examined 

 was on the southern side. {Chapman.) 



Breeding Notes. — A large suite of specimens was taken, a part 

 of it, however, unintentionally, for it is not an easy matter to 

 always distinguish between the Savanna sparrow and Baird's 

 bunting at gunshot range; and when I have killed a bird I gener- 

 ally make a point of preserving it, even though it is not particu- 

 larly wanted as a specimen in order that its life may not have 

 been taken in vain. The nest is placed on the ground, simply 

 built of dried grasses with a lining of horse hair; the eggs are. 

 four or five in number, in this locality usually laid in the first 

 half of June. Like nearly all the fringilline birds of this region 

 the Savanna sparrow is frequently the cow-bird's fostejr-parent, 

 and in one instance that came under my observation, the nest 

 contained two of the alien eggs. {Coues.) On June i8th, 1882, 

 within a few feet of a straw-stack in the barnyard, where horses 

 and cattle are continually running about, I found the nest of a 

 Savanna sparrow, protected only by a tuft of prairie grass. It 

 contained five eggs, and was composed of grass with a meagre 

 lining of horse-hair, the whole being slightly sunk in the ground. 

 {Thompson-Seton!) This is a vrry abundant species in Assiniboia 

 and Alberta. Set of eggs usually four. Always breeds near 



