58 THE BIOLOGICAL REVIEW. 



I was away from the city in the fall of 1892, and so far I can 

 only learn of one specimen being taken anywhere about the 

 city, although the birds must have returned as usual by the 

 old route. In the spring of 1893 I watched with the usual 

 interest, and at the regulation time, and secured seven, several 

 of which were obtained by Mr. J. H. Fleming and one by Mr. 

 Spanner, and four of the remaining specimens are now in the 

 collection of the Biological Society of Ontario. 



On October 2 a male bird was secured, being the only one: 

 seen. October 6 a second male was secured, and on October 

 13 a female was taken, all being in company with White- 

 throated Sparrows and Juncos. A storm of wind and rain on 

 October 13 and 14 started the migration in full, and Fox 

 Sparrows were the commonest birds in the woods. On October 

 16 I secured five, October 17 nine, October 18 seven, October 

 19 six ; or a total of thirty birds in three weeks, and I am 

 confident I could have secured double the number had I 

 persisted in collecting them. This spring (1894) aa bird life- 

 was scarce, yet I observed five Fox Sparrows at their old 

 resorts, but I did not collect any. All told, I have in nine 

 migration seasons collected seventy-two, and of this num- 

 ber thirty are in my collection ; and at the present time there 

 are specimens in collections of the Biological Society of Ontario, 

 Wm. Cross, Oliver Spanner, J. H. Fleming, J. H. Thurston, G. 

 F. Dippie, A. E. Dowson and the Canadian Institute, all of 

 which are my collecting; and from what I can learn outside 

 I don't think there have been a dozen collected by all other 

 Toronto collectors in that time, and very few observations have 

 been made of them. One would not wonder if it were an 

 insignificant bird or one difficult to recognize in the woods at 

 its not being observed more frequently, but on the contrary, I 

 think, for real beauty of plumage, grace of movement and 

 elegance of shape, there are few birds on the list can compare 

 with it and its habits are such as to make it easily recognizable 

 to the practiced eye or ear. It is a bird among birds, being of 

 a quiet, retiring disposition ; its song and plumage are quiet and 

 soft, yet exceedingly beautiful, with none of the gay, dashy 

 color of the Grosbeak or Tanager, nor the curiosity of the Blue 



