Some Birds of Lewis Co, N.Y. 
C. Hart Merriam 
Melospiza lincolni. Lincoln’s Finch. — In my cabinet is a 
female specimen of Lincoln’s Finch, which I shot here (Locust Giove) 
May 23, 1873. Mr. Egbert Bagg, Jr., of Utica, on the 13th of June 
last (1878), took its nest, containing three eggs, at Moose Pond, 
Hamilton County, N. Y.* (in the Adirondack region, and not 
many miles distant from Lewis County). As there is no question 
concerning the identity of this nest (the female parent having been 
shot and sent to Mr. Bobert Ridgway for identification), and since 
my bird was taken so late as the 23d of May, I think there can be 
no reasonable doubt of its breeding in Lewis County. 
Bull, N.O.O, 4, Jan., 1879, p. 6 
Melospiza lincolni breeding in New York again. — On page 197 
of Volume III of this Bulletin, is an account of my taking the nest of 
this bird in 1878. To this record I now desire to add another. On June 
16, 1 881, on the shore of Otter Lake (or Pond) Hamilton Co., N.Y. 
(about half a mile from the locality in which I took the nest in 1878), I 
flushed a Lincoln’s Finch from her nest. She was so quick in her flight 
that I missed her with both barrels and was obliged to retire into the 
bushes and wait her return, and as I stood up to my ankles in wet moss 
and mud among the alders, being devoured by mosquitoes, blackflies, and 
punkies, I kept saying to myself “If it is only a Lincoln’s Finch it will 
pay for all this.” But I could scarcely believe my good fortune when, 
after returning to the nest and killing the female bird, I took her out of 
the water, where she fell, and saw it really was the desired bird. The 
nest was situated almost exactly like the other, in wet spongy ground 
at the edge of the lake, not under any bush or weed, but quite well 
concealed by last year’s grasses. Diameter outside, 3.75 inches; in- 
side, 2 inches; depth outside, 2.25 inches; inside, 1.75 inches. It was 
composed of fine grasses loosely put together, and set down nearly level 
with the moss. The eggs, which were four, slightly advanced in incuba- 
tion, were exactly like those taken in 1878, except that the spots of 
reddish-brown were rather larger and more marked. — Egbert Bagg, Jr .. 
Utica, N.T. Bali N.O.O. 0,Oot, X881.P, 
Lincoln’s Sparrow and its Nesting. 
BY G. F. BRENNINGEK, FORT COLLINS, COL. 
The habits and breeding of the Lincoln’s 
Sparrow ( Melospiza lincolni) is rarely met 
with and but very little being known of its 
nidifieation, perhaps a short account of my 
experience with the bird may prove of interest 
to my many oological friends. The place 
where I first became acquainted with this spe- 
cies was at a considerable height in the Rocky 
Mountains, very close to 12,000 feet above sea 
level. While strolling along over a small level 
tract of land on the margin of the north fork of 
the Cache-la-poudre River, just at a point 
where the river made a sharp bend and its 
waters were rushing forward with that wild 
increasing rush which prevails so commonly 
in mountainous streams, I had been climbing 
up and around the rugged mountain sides until 
I was almost exhausted, and overcome by thirst 
I sought the cool supply afforded by the river 
to quench my thirst, and by so doing was how 
I came across the home circles of the rare Lin- 
coln’s Sparrow. The grass was some sixteen 
or twenty inches high, intermingled with dead 
limbs, overgrown and almost concealed from 
sight, so that while the naturalist’s eye is fol- 
ing some bird as it passes from sight, among 
dark spruces which cover the higher 
fi ,„lmds, at the next moment one may be not 
very agreeably surprised by being entangled in 
some such underbrush and concealed limbs, 
and tumbled lengthwise on the ground. I was 
carefully guarding against any such mishaps, 
and making my way for the river the best way 
I could, when I stepped aside to avoid a gully 
washed out by previous rains or melting snow. 
In so doing, before me, or rather a little to the 
side, I flushed a bird. At first sight it ap- 
peared very much like some small ground ro- 
dent beating a hasty retreat toward safety, but 
on closer examination I saw that it was a small 
brownish bird. Instead of flying it ran along 
the ground at an immense speed from its nest, 
which I was not very long in finding. Under 
an overhanging tuft of long green grass snugly 
concealed was the nest. It was partly sunken 
in the ground and roughly lined with dead 
grass, weeds, stems and a few pine needles. It 
was on the edge of the gully. The nest con- 
tained two young birds partly fledged. 
I spent a few moments endeavoring to see 
the parent bird, which I succeeded in doing. 
The bird was unknown to me at the time, so I 
determined to obtain one, which 1 also accom- 
plished, and afterwards learned its name. Ful- 
ly satisfied I proceeded to the river's edge and 
there I quenched my thirst. I sat down to 
rest and to make entries in my note-book, and 
enjoyed myself watching the Rocky Mountain 
Bluebirds pass over. 
The solitary yet pleasing note of a Water 
Ouzel was heard, which undoubtedly had its 
hidden nest of moss close by, though I failed 
to find it. 
These birds are quite common above the ele- 
vation of 11,000 feet, and the coming season I 
hope will enable me to give the readers of this 
journal a more full account of this Sparrow 
with the color and number of eggs laid in a set. 
'his latter fact I believe is not very fully estab- 
ished, as I see several authors of works on Or- 
ithology of recent dates differ quite widely 
pon this Sparrow. Even at so late a date as 
uly 5th, the day I spent on the river, a great 
aany of the birds were still incubating theii 
«*’ but 
