HARRIS' SPARROW. 107 



food. The song of my cage pets was very loud, clear, melodious, prolonged, and liquid. 

 They sang most diligently in sultry weather, and the lay reminded me of the song of 

 the White-crowned Sparrow as well as of that of the Fox-colored Sparrow. 



The breeding range of this fine Sparrow is found from northern North Dakota and 

 Montana northward. Our celebrated ornithologist and oologist. Captain Charles E. 

 Bendire, gives the following description of the supposed nest and eggs of Harris' Sparrow: 



"During the summer of 1885, while I was stationed at Fort 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 diflfer materially in coloration from those of the 

 other species of Zonotrichia, as w^ell as from those of the genera Passerella, Melospiza, 

 and Pipilo, all of which are represented by good series in the National Museum col- 

 lection. 



"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 w^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 general 

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

 They resemble certain types of Cardinal's eggs more than anything else, but are con- 

 siderably smaller. There is no trace of green w^hatever noticeable in their ground color. 

 This green tint is always found to a greater or less extent in all the eggs of the genera 

 Zonotrichia 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 wth dark brown and burnt umber, and more or less mixed w^ith 

 pale heliotrope-purple and purpHsh-gray. They are ovate in shape, and measure 

 .89X.70, .88X.69, .86X.69 and .85X.65 inch. 



"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 the Arctic Towhee, 

 which is barely possible, although also rather small for this species, they will certainly 

 prove to be those of Harris' 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 collected by me in the early part of 

 October are now in the National Museum. I found them associated with White-crowned 

 Sparrows and Arctic Towhees principally, scattered in small flocks through the under- 

 growth along the Big and Little Horn River bottoms, and it seems to confine itself to 

 the shrubbery found along the streams."* 



» "The Auk," Vpl. VI. 1889, p. 151—153. 



