TI1E FOX-COLOURED FINOII. 
141 
of a creeping fir, the branches of which completely conceal it from \iew. 
Its exterior is loosely formed of dry grass and moss, with a carefully dis- 
posed 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 or 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 of 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 
