Brewster.] 376 [October 3, 



An abundant species on Anticosti where the numerous fresh- 

 water marshes and reed-fringed brooks afford haunts in every 

 way suited to its peculiar habits. In all such places the pleasing 

 mellow trill of the male was one of the characteristic bird voices, 

 while it was often the only sound that broke the dreary silence, 

 or rose above the rustle of the reeds stirred by the chill sea 

 breezes. 



1 cannot help suspecting that Verrill mistook this species for 

 the Tree Sparrow (Spizella monticola), for he does not include 

 it in his list, while he characterizes the Tree Sparrow as "com- 

 mon " and breeding. 1 I failed to find the latter at all, although 

 I searched for it closely. 



30 Melospiza meloda, Wils. — Song Sparrow. 



This ubiquitous species was abundant along the shores of the 

 Gut of Canso and a few occurred about Gaspe, but we saw none 

 either at Anticosti or on the North Shore. Dr. Merriam, how- 

 ever, has found it " tolerably common " near the mouth of the 

 Godbout River. 2 



31. Junco hiemalis, Linn. — Common Snowbird. 



Of general and very uniform distribution on the shores and 

 islands of the Gulf, but nowhere as numerous as in northern New 

 England. 



32. Spizella socialis, Wils. — Chipping Sparrow. 

 Seen only at Gaspe where it was common. 



33. Zonotrichia albicollis, Gm. — White-throated Sparrow. 

 Everywhere about the Gulf, save on the wind-swept Magdalens, 



this Sparrow was an abundant and familiar species. Along the 

 Gut of Canso, in the fertile country about Gaspe, among the 

 shaggy forests of Anticosti, and on the fir-clad coast of the North 

 Shore, we heard its clear peepeepeabodypeabodypeabody, ring- 

 ing incessantly along the wood edges, or breaking the silence of 

 some lonely glen where the wandering summer breezes rarely 

 rustled a leaf or stirred the Usnea moss that draped the branches 

 of the grim spruces. Like the Fox Sparrow it is an untiring 

 songster, and its voice is perhaps even more in keeping with the 

 beautiful solitudes which it chooses for its summer home. This 



i Proc. Bos. Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. ix, Dec. 1862, p. 138. 



2 Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vol. vn, p. 235. 



