to the 15th. Mr. Allen met with it from May 7 to June 6, in 1861, when these birds were more common than usual. At this period, farther west, in Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and New York, these birds are very abundant. From April 10 to the latter portion of May, in 1852, they were abundant in the neighborhood of Washington, the Capitol grounds being full of them. They were familiar and fearless, and seemed to delight to search for food under the large Norway spruces, branching down to the ground. Their abundance that spring may have been exceptional, as Wilson appears to have met with but very few specimens.
Mr. Audubon found these Sparrows very abundant in Labrador, where they were apparently late in breeding. It was not until the 6th of July that he found one of their nests. This was placed among the moss at the foot of a low fir. It was made externally of dry hypnum mosses, matted in bunches like the coarse hair of some quadruped, and internally of fine dry grasses, arranged with great neatness, to the thickness of half an inch, with a full lining of the delicate yellow fibrous roots of the Coptis trifolia. The nest was five inches in its external diameter, and two in depth, the cavity two and a quarter wide and one and three quarters deep. The eggs, five in number, he describes as of a light sea-green color, mottled towards the larger end with brownish spots and blotches, a few spots of a lighter tint being dispersed over the whole. All the nests found were placed on the ground or among the moss, and all were alike in their construction. By the beginning of August the party met with young that were able to fly. By the middle of that month they had commenced their southern migrations.
Dr. Coues also found this Sparrow breeding in great numbers along the entire coast of Labrador. Found in all situations, it seemed to be particularly fond of deep, thickly wooded, and secluded ravines, surrounded by high precipitous cliffs, and, when in more open districts, confining itself to tangled patches of juniper and scrubby firs. He describes it as a very active and sprightly bird, almost continually in motion. It seldom alights without rapidly jerking and flirting its tail, and uttering its loud chirpings. While the female is incubating, the male usually mounts to the top of the cliff or a neighboring tree, and repeats his loud and not unpleasing, though somewhat monotonous, notes for the space of half an hour or more. He describes its song as very similar to that of the White-throated Sparrow, consisting of two long-drawn syllables with a rising intonation, then three more in a quick, hurried manner, with a falling cadence,—pēé-dēé-dē-dē-dē; the whole is delivered in a mellow whistle. If approached while thus engaged, the performer becomes instantly silent, and dives hastily into the nearest cover. The nest was always placed on the ground, and usually in little patches of low heath, abundant wherever the ground was dry. He found a nest on the 23d of July, containing young just hatched. The female flutters off in silence when her nest is disturbed, but the male bird vociferates his angry remonstrance, flirting his tail and jerking his body in an energetic manner.
The food of this bird, in Labrador, was found to consist of small coleopterous insects, grass-seeds, a variety of berries, as well as minute shell-fish, for which they searched the margins of ponds near the sea-shore. They were also seen to pursue insects on the wing. Mr. Audubon speaks of its song as consisting of six or seven notes, and describes it as loud, clear, and musical, although of a plaintive nature, diminishing in power to the last note. Its flight he describes as low, swift, and protracted.
Dr. Coues did not find this bird abundant in South Carolina during the winter, and conjectures that it does not go so far to the south. Its migrations do not appear to be well defined, and nowhere is it known to be abundant during this season. Lieutenant Couch met with it at Brownville, Texas, and Tamaulipes, Mexico, and at Charco Escondido, in March, at which time they were in flocks, indicating a more southern migration than is generally supposed.
It extends its northern migrations to the extreme northern and northeastern portions of the continent, and also to Greenland. On the Yukon and Anderson Rivers it is replaced by the Z. gambeli. It is not abundant in Greenland. Holböll obtained a single specimen only in August; and afterwards met with a flock of young birds. He infers that they breed in the interior, but are restricted to a very narrow strip of territory.
Eggs of this species, from Wyoming Territory, measure from .90 to .95 of an inch in length by .70 in breadth, and are of an oblong-oval shape. The ground-color is a light greenish-white, thickly marked with reddish-brown and lighter markings of an obscure purplish-brown. The intensity, depth of coloring, and size of the darker brown markings, vary. They are principally disposed about the larger end.
Zonotrichia leucophrys var. gambeli, Gambel.
WESTERN WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW.
Fringilla gambeli, Nutt. Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 556.—Gambel, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. I, 1843, 262 (California.) Zonotrichia gambeli, Gambel, J. A. N. Sc. 2d series, I, Dec. 1847, 50.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 460, pl. lxix, f. 1.—Lord, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 1864, 119 (British Columbia).—Cooper & Suckley, 201.—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 284 (Alaska).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 195. Zonotrichia leucophrys, Newberry, Zoöl. Cal. & Or. Route; Rep. P. R. R. VII, iv, 1857, 87.