1883.] 375 [Brewster. 



directly to me and chirped anxiously it probably had a mate and 

 nest not far away. The other two were a mated pair. The male 

 • appeared first, and upon my shooting him the female started almost 

 under my feet. There was no mistaking her extreme solicitude, 

 but a search for the nest, although long and careful, proved fruit- 

 less. 



Late in the afternoon of the same day (June 23) we landed 

 again ; this time at Plaster Cove, a picturesque spot on the oppo- 

 site (Cape Breton) side of the Gut, about ten miles to the west- 

 ward. The country here was drier and more rocky, but near the 

 source of a brook that emptied into the cove I found a small 

 tract of springy spruce openings, and in it another Lincoln's 

 Finch. This bird acted precisely like the other three, and I was 

 convinced that she also had eggs or young. 



Rather curiously, I did not hear any of the males sing, although 

 the day was favorable for bird music, and other species were par- 

 ticularly noisy. The notes of alarm or anxiety used by both 

 sexes were a sharp tchip common to nearly all Sparrows, and a 

 soft tsup indistinguishable from that of the Snowbird. These 

 Sparrows impressed me as being rather more active and animated 

 than are most of their allies. They are trim and graceful in form, 

 and the feathers of the crown are habitually raised in a loose 

 crest. I had no difficulty- in distinguishing them from the nu- 

 merous Song Sparrows which occurred with them ; the Song Spar- 

 rows being much bolder and less skulking in their movements, as 

 well as appreciably larger and stouter in build. 



The positive determination of four individuals, probably repre- 

 senting three pairs, during so hurried and limited an exploration 

 renders it probable that Lincoln's Pinch breeds rather commonly 

 over more or less of this region. Still it may be locally distribu- 

 ted there, especially if it is confined to the peculiar kind of ground 

 where my specimens were obtained. On the Atlantic seaboard 

 it has not, to my knowledge, been previously found breeding 

 south of Labrador. 1 I fully expected to meet with it on the 

 North Shore, if not at Anticosti, but it was not again seen. 



29. Melospiza palustris, Wils. — Swamp Sparrow. 



1 Since writing the above Mr. Geoi'ge 0. Welch has informed me that he found it 

 numerous and apparently breeding within thirty miles of Halifax, N. S., during 

 August, 1883. 



