BIRDS OF NORTHERN CANADA 405 



tions. In a few there were no feathers, in others feathers 

 in varying proportions, and in several the down and feathers 

 composed the chief portion of the nest, with only a few 

 leaves and a little hay as a base for the nest. Mr. Ross has 

 all three snowbirds in his List, while there are only three 

 skins, and not a single egg, of this species in the Dominion 

 Museum at Ottawa! 



540. Vespee Spaeeow — Pooccetes gramineus (Grmelin). 



On 26th June, 1864, we found a nest of this species 

 containing six eggs in a sparsely wooded tract of country 

 east of Fort Anderson. The female was snared on her nest. 

 The bird, as well as the nest and eggs, closely agreed with 

 the description in Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway's "History 

 of North American Birds." Professor Macoun has, how- 

 ever, referred to those under P. gramineus confinis Baird 

 in his " Catalogue of Canadian Birds." Mr. Macoun states 

 that this is a common prairie species, and that a nest taken 

 on 31st May, 1895, contained three fresh eggs. It was found 

 on the sloping side of a coulee, placed on the ground under 

 a tuft of grass. It was built chiefly of fine material, the base 

 being leaves of grass, the coarser at the bottom. A few hairs 

 were worked in at the last. Another nest, identical in every 

 way, was taken 19th June, in a clump of Potentilla gracilis 

 at the edge of a ravine. 



The Ottawa Museum possesses twenty-seven specimens 

 and two sets of four eggs each, taken at Crane Lake, Sas- 

 katchewan, on 11th June, 1894, by Professor Macoun, and 

 another set of four received from Mr. Raine, which were 

 found at Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, May 7th, 1898. 



6-42a. Savaxn"a Spaeeow — Passerculus sandwichensis sav- 

 anna (Wilson). 



Numerous in the Anderson River valley, and although 

 frequenting marshes, it generally makes its nest on dry 

 ground, similar to that described under No. 542b. The 



