the principal breeding resorts of the species along the Eastern coast. The nest appears 

 to be always placed on the ground ; the situations generally selected are thick patches 

 of low heath, and the still more dense growths of scrubby conifers. It is composed 

 chiefly of mosses, but lined with a quantity of very fine dried grasses or rootlets, set 

 evenly round and round. The eggs are four or five in number, about seven-eighths of an 

 inch long, and pale greenish, speckled and blotched, particularly toward the larger end, 

 with brown and neutral tint. The descriptions of some of the earlier authors are cer- 

 tainly erroneous, probably relating to the egg of the Tit-lark, which breeds abundantly 

 with the White-crowned Sparrow, and, like it, builds a mossy nest on the ground. I 

 found nestlings but a few days old the last week in July; these were perhaps of a second 

 brood, as many birds of the year were flying about the same time. The southward 

 migration begins, according to Audubon, as early as the middle of August; this state- 

 ment is confirmed by the presence of the birds in New England, and even in the Middle 

 States, in September. The migration is very extensive, the birds scattering all over the 

 United States, and wintering as far north, at least, as Maryland. Audubon says that 

 they pass beyond Texas ; but he does not appear to have made any personal observa- 

 tion to that effect, and I cannot lay my hand on a Mexican quotation. I can hardly 

 understand the scarcity — much less the irregularity — of the occurrence of the birds along 

 the Atlantic States, considering the numbers that breed to the northward, unless the 

 migration is performed obliquely and in the interior. At Washington, for example, I 

 found that they were not to be depended upon at all. Dr. Prentiss and I used to look 

 for them in October, and especially in April, and some years w^e found a good many, 

 while at others there appeared to be none at all. They seemed, on the whole, more 

 frequent in spring than in the fall, and all those we secured w^ere in breeding dress. 

 They remained sometimes until the second week in May ; frequented the same situations 

 as the White-throats, often associating with them, and showing very similar traits." 



Mr. M. Trippe gives the following interesting account on the White-crown's breed- 

 ing in the Rocky Mountains : 



"This Sparrow appears in the lower valleys of Clear Creek County, Colorado, in 

 the first or second week of May, and soon becomes very abundant, frequenting the 

 shrubby banks of the streams, and occasionally venturing some distance upon the hill- 

 sides, but, as a rule, keeping close to the brooks and creeks. As the snow disappears it 

 ascends higher and higher, reaching timber-line by the middle of June, and going up to 

 the extreme limit of the willows and Junipers, being nowhere more abundant than in 

 those dense thickets that shut the upper edge of the timber. By far the greater number 

 pass the breeding season there, but a few nest lower down, as far as 8,500 feet, below 

 which it does not occur during summer. In habits, during the breeding season, it 

 resembles the Song Sparrow, seeking its food in the grass and among the dry leaves in 

 the thickets. It sings constantly during June and July, and occasionally in August, 

 mounting to the top of some high bush, the dead limb of a pine, or any convenient 

 perch well elevated above the surrounding shrubbery, and chanting its ditty at short 

 intervals for half an hour or more at a time— a lively, agreeable song, fine and clear 

 and frequently heard from a score or more of birds at once, with a most pleasino- effect. 

 While his mate is setting, the male sings almost constantly throughout the day, and 



