THE IPSWICH SPARROW IN ITS SUMMER HOME. 
BY W. E. SAUNDERS. 
Owing to a happy combination of circumstances I had the 
pleasure of visiting Sable Island recently, arriving on May 16, 
1901, and leaving on the 23d. Ever since reading Dr. Dwight’s 
delightful monograph of the Ipswich Sparrow I have longed to 
visit this bird at home but with little hope that my desire would 
ever be realized, and it was therefore an unexpected delight when 
a feasible opportunity occurred. It will be remembered that not 
only is Sable Island the only breeding ground of this Sparrow, 
but also that the Sparrow is the only land bird which breeds there, 
eminently protective, and they appear to realize this thoroughly 
and would often remain motionless and allow a fairly close 
approach before flying. There was seldom any difficulty in 
approaching to within comfortable range of the few that I shot. 
While I was too early for most nests to have eggs, I arrived at 
the most favorable time to find them, because the first step in 
nestbuilding is the excavation of the nest cavity which usually 
results in the exposure of some black soil, the patch of dark color 
being easily seen among the dried grass stems which cover the 
site. A few days later, when these holes were covered with 
grasses, detection became very difficult indeed. 
three nests were found in the enclosure surrounding the Super- 
intendent’s house, and nearly 30 were found altogether, most of 
them being, of course, incomplete. Of those containing complete 
sets, four contained 5 eggs, and four contained 4 only, part of one 
set being hatched. All the nests but five were placed among long 
