The Nesting of the Slate-Colored 
Junco, at Grand Manan. 
BY FREDERIC H. CARPENTER. 
The first observation of tins species, Junco 
hyemalis , was a female flushed from her nest 
by Mr. F. W. Andros, in an old pasture, back 
of the town of East.port, Maine. The nest was 
sunk into the side of a mossy hummock in 
damp earth ; the set numbered four, with 
general colorization much darker than average 
specimens. Incubation was fresh. The locality 
was evidently not favorable to this species as 
we saw no more. 
On the following day, June 5th, we arrived 
at Grand Manan, and had abundant opportunities 
for witnessing the nidifioation of the Juncos. 
They seemed to be rather restricted in their 
choice of breeding resorts. At North Head, 
where there were pastures half grown up with 
spruce and birch, with plenty of the low 
scrambling evergreen, called juniper by the 
natives, we found them much more plenty 
than at any other place on the entire island. 
The majority of their nests were placed well 
into the ground, beneath the cover of the 
“Junipers.” One set of flve taken June 5th 
was exceptionally light in ground color, and 
almost as glossy as the eggs of the Yellow- 
breasted Chat. Their nests were invariably 
lined with hair and fine grasses, compactly 
woven into an outside of coarser stems. 
At this locality they are abundant at times, 
every bush containing one or more individuals. 
They are hard to flush from their nests, often 
narrowly escaping being trod upon. 
We found these birds at no other place very | 
common. In the interior a very few were seen, | 
and on the outer islands, while they occur at i 
times in large numbers, yet they do not breed 
there to any extent. Mr. S. F. Cheney, with 
whom we spent a large portion of our time, 
has collected a remarkable series of their eggs 
during the past few years. According to this 
gentleman’s experience, they nest under the 
protection of a rock, to the exclusion of every 
other situation. They probably made a sub- 
stitute of the best thing in lieu of the absent 
junipers. 
At the northern portion of the island they 
were not found at all, save an occasional lone 
specimen. 
O.&O. XII. S ept. 183? p.1-52 - fSJ. 
. E>r, Naturalists 7oL 10. Feb. 
• ou Vnotes on 
Range of the Sn owbird,” J unco hyemalis (p. 114) • 
Remarkable Nesting Sites of the 
Black Snowbird. 
BY W. L. BISIIOT, KENTVIELE, N. S. 
Nest No. 1 was found May 13th, 1887, and 
contained five fresh eggs of this species ( J unco 
hyemalis). It was in a hole nine feet from the 
ground, iu the side of a large apple tree which 
stands about fifty feet from a dwelling house, 
and within eight feet of the barn in the central 
part of the town of Kentville. The cavity ex- 
tended down about nine inches below the en- 
trance and here the nest was built. Not much 
material of any kind was used in its construc- 
tion, simply a little dry grass and sparingly 
lined with hair. 
Nest No. 2 was found in the woods about 
half a mile out of the town of Kentville, on 
May 17th, 1887, by Walter Ryan. This was 
situated about four feet from the ground on a 
branch of a fallen spruce tree, and contained 
four fresh eggs. The nest was composed of 
the usual material used by this bird, except 
that it contained in its lining a black Ostrich 
feather about seven inches long. 
Nest No. 3 was found in Kentville, June 1st, 
1887, containing three fresh eggs. The site of 
this was in an ivy that grew up by a corner 
post of a veranda and spread along each way 
under the eaves, eight feet from the ground, 
making a thick cluster of vines. In this a 
Robin had nested in 1886 and the nest being in 
a sheltered place remained in a good state of 
preservation until the following spring, 1887, 
and in this little Junco built her nest. She first 
rearranged the original lining of the nest and 
then lined it with cattle hair. I have this i 
nest and eggs in my collection at the present j 
time. 
Nest No. 4 was found June 5th, 18S7, within 
a few rods from the site of nest No. 1, and con- . 
tained five fresh eggs. This was also in a hole P 
in an apple tree ten feet from the ground, and g 
was probably the same bird as described in nest 
No. 1, the eggs of nest No 1 having been taken. § 
Nest No. 5 was found June 22nd, 1887, con- ^ 
tained four fresh eggs. It was in a hole five g 
feet from the ground in a large apple tree that ^ 
the 
stands within two feet of the line of the side- „ g 
Q,aa4 Q» 
495 
105. 
& 
2. Breeding Snow Birds. By Geo. H. Morgan, 
Oet. 17, 1878. — Note on the breeding of Junco h 
of North Carolina. I '©?, & Stream. 
323. Snow Bird [ Junco hiemalis ] nesting in 
J. A. Dakin. Ibid., VI, p. .59. 
1924. Unusual Nesting Place of Junco. By A. C 
-Junco hyemalis. |W» feStTSaiXU VOi 8 34 
A Bewildered Snow-Bird. By Charles Aldrich. Ib 
Asaer. Naturalist* 
323. Snow Bird \ Ju?ico hiemalis) nesting in 
J. A. Dakin.- *f&id., VI, p. 59. 
344. Native Birds in Confinement. By Annie Trumbull Slosson. 
Ibid . , VI, p. 78. — Junco hiemalis, Plectrofikanes nivalis, PBgiothus 
linaria. 
walk in a central part of the town. The bird, 
when on the nest, was in plain view from the 
sidewalk. The nest was composed outside of 
miscellaneous material, among which was some 
pieces of rope yarn, and lined with fine grass 
and a little hair. 
Nest No. 6, found June 4th, 1888, contained 
young, was situated in a hole four and a half 
feet high in a large apple tree, within a few 
feet of a dwelling house in Kentville. The 
entrance to this nest is quite small, not large 
enough to admit a persons hand, and the nest 
is about seven inches below the entrance.- 
Nest No. 7, found June 4th, 1888, was seven 
feet from the ground in a hole in the same, ap- 
ple tree as that of nest No. 4, and contained 
young birds 
oir w sept. 1888 P .I36-/JA 
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