THE FOX-COLOURED FINCH. 141 



of a creeping fir, the branches of which completely conceal it from view. Its 

 exterior is loosely formed of dry grass and moss, with a carefully disposed 

 inner layer of finer grasses, circularly arranged; and the lining consists of 

 very delicate fibrous roots, together with some feathers from different species 

 of water-fowl. In one instance I found it composed of the down of the 

 Eider-duck. The period at which the eggs are laid, is from the middle of 

 June to the 5th of July. They are proportionally large, four or five in 

 number, rather sharp at the smaller end, of a dull greenish tint, sprinkled 

 with irregular small blotches of brown. I think that the description given 

 in the splendid work of my friends Swainson and Richardson, of the eggs 

 of this species, must have been taken from those of the White-crowned 

 Bunting, as it agrees precisely with eggs which I have found in many nests 

 of that bird. 



When one approaches the nest, the female affects lameness, and employs 

 all the usual arts to decoy him from it. They raise only one brood in the 

 season. The young, before they depart for the United States, already 

 resemble their parents, which have by this time lost much of the brilliancy 

 of their colouring. They leave Labrador about the 1st of September, in 

 small groups, formed each of a single family. When in that country, and 

 in Newfoundland, I frequently observed them searching along the shores for 

 minute shell-fish, on which they feed abundantly. 



Many of these birds are frequently offered for sale in the markets of 

 Charleston, they being easily caught in "figure-of-four traps!" Their price 

 is usually ten or twelve cents each. I saw many in the aviaries of my friends 

 Dr. Samuel Wilson and the Reverend John Bachman, of that city. To 

 the former I am indebted for the following particulars relative to this species, 

 part of which I was myself witness to. 



Dr. Wilson, who was almost in the daily habit of visiting my friend 

 Bachman, with whom it was my good fortune to reside while at Charleston, 

 was fond of talking about birds, many of which he knew more accurately 

 than ordinary ornithologists are wont to do. "My dear Mr. Audubon," he 

 said, "I have several beautiful Fox-coloured Sparrows in my aviary, but of 

 late some of them have been killed, and I wish you would tell me by what 

 other birds the murders can have been committed." I laid the charge first 

 on the Blue Jays; but he replied that even they appeared as if greatly 

 molested by some other species. A day elapsed, the Doctor returned, and 

 astonished me not a little by informing me that the culprit was a Mocking- 

 bird. I went to his house on the 8th of December; and, while standing on 

 the piazza, we both saw the Mocking-bird alight on one of the Fox-coloured 

 Sparrows, in the manner of a small Hawk, and peck at the poor bird with 

 such force as to convince us that its death must soon ensue. The muscular 



Vol. III. 24 



