Nesting of Harris's Sparrow (Zonotrichia Querula) at Churchill, Manitoba

166 SEMPLEAND SUTTON, Nesting ofHarris's Sparrow. [April[Auk

NESTING OF HARRIS'S SPARROW (ZONOTRICHIA QUERULA) AT CHURCHILL, MANITOBA.

BY JOHN BONNER SEMPLE AND GEORGE MIKSCH SUTTON. !

Plates VI-VIII.

UNDERa thin clump of slender,tough-twigged Labrador tea, whoseoutermost branches bear at theirtips pale green bud dusters, and whosenarrow, downward-slanting leaves glisten in the spruce- filteredsunlight; cupped in the dampcrown of a sphagnumisland- hummockamong the conifers,its rim only a few inchesabove the ice-filmedwater, is a nest lined with fine grass. In this nest, and shadowedso deeplyas to appear of a dark, indefinitecolor, are four eggs. Such is man's first recordedglimpse of the eggsof Harris's Sparrowin the wildernesssummer home of the bird. The storyof the discoveryand naming of thishandsome sparrow, 2 of the mysterywhich so long surrounded its nestingground, and of the all but century-longsearch for its eggs,forms one of the most interestingchapters in the annalsof Americanornithology. Harry Harris('The Auk,' Vol. XXXVI, 1919,pp. 180-190)has given us sucha full accountof the earlierdiscoveries of the speciesby Nut- tall, by Maximilian, Prince of Wied, and by Audubon; and Pro- fessorsMyron H. Swenkand O. A. Stevens('The Wilson Bulletin,' Vol. XLI, 1929,pp. 129-177)have presentedsuch an exhaustive treatise on its behavior during migration and in winter, that now thereis need for nomore than a discussionof the springand summer activitiesof the bird in its northernnesting ground. The breedingrange of Harris's Spaxrowis now believed to

• Tho authors are dooply indobted to Mr. Bayard H. Christy, of Sowickloy, Ponnsylvania, for a critical reading of this manuscript; to Mr. W. E. Clydo Todd, of tho Carnogio Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for assistanco in measuring, describing, and photographing tho oggs; and to Mr. Porcy A. Taverner, of tho Canadian National Museum, Ottawa, Ontario, for many helpful suggostions. • The fact that Nuttali's English namo "Mourning Finch" has been supersedod by Audubon's "Harris's Finch," whoreas his classical namo querula has ondured, is highly interesting to studonts of ornithological nomenclaturo. "Mourning Sparrow" would, indeed, boa fitting namo for tho black-cowled, sad-voiced bird. Audubon named tho sparrow (Birds of America, 8 vo. Ed., Vol. VII, 1844, p. 331) aftor his "oxeellent and constant friend EDWARD HARRIS, Esq.," who apparently shot at least two of tho spocimons upon which Audubon based his description. T• Avi•, Vol.. XLIX. Px•x?r•VI.

Photos by O. S. Pettingill, Jr. HARRIS'SSPARROW NEAR NEST• CHURCHILL•MANITOBA. extend$rom the regionof Churchill,on HudsonBay, weltwardand northwestwardto the easternshore of Great Bear Lake, probably throughoutthe belt of stuntedtrees which is characteristicof the Hudsonian Life Zone, just south of the vast Arctic Barren Grounds. This breedingground has beenmore or lessdefinitely knownfor thirty years;yet priorto the spr'mgof 1031no ornltholo- gist,to the best0f our knowledge,had ever seena nestwith eggs. The reasonthis part of the life-cycleof the specieshas remained so longunknown is not that the bird is especiallyrare, or of localor irregularoccurrenee, but that, up to the year1020, the regionwhere it nestswas all butinaccessiblein the nestingseason.. The completionof the HudsonBay CanadianGovernment Rail- way in 1020opened up a vast territory,•a territory'.which holds muchof interestfor the ornithologist.The terminusof thisrailway, Churchill,Manitoba, is the very point at whichEdward A. Preble (1002, A BiologicalInvestigation of the Hudson Bay Region, pp. 120-121),in 1000, and Percy A. Taverner,• in 1030, found Harris's Sparrowcommon during the summer;and it was at this convenientpoint that our expeditiondecided to centerits activi- ties duringthe springof 1031. Churchill(formerly known as Fort Churchill)is situatedat the mouthof the ChurchillRiver, in Latitude50 ø N., directlynorth of' extremeeastern Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Our party was composedof four men. There were, in additionto the authors; l•ir. Bert C. Lloyd, of Davidson,Saskatchewan, an activeyoung collectorwho had had threeyears of fieldexperience in the Church- ill region,and iVlr.Olin SewallPettingill, Jr., of Middleton,Massa-. chusetts,.who accompaniedus principallyin' the capacityof pho? tographer. The'trip from Winnipegto Churchill,via The Pas,required but - threed•ys and we wereComfortable in ourantiquated Pullman car, even.on the last lap of our journey,although the aspectof the: countrysidebecame more ,wintry hour by houras wemoved north- ward. The crossingof this samecountry in spring,by dog-team, afoot,or by canoe(and formerlyno other means.were available) would have req.ulred weeks. . . The •repoi•'on Mr. Taverner's field work in the •Ohurchlllregion has not yet appea•',ed,' ...... :- 168 SEMELEAND SUTTON, Nesting ofHarris's Sparrow. [April[Auk

At The Pas, on May 23 (a bright, pleasantday), we saw many Harris's Sparrows,most of them in flocksof six or eightindividuals, and heardmany in full song. They wereespecially abundant along the woodedshore of a small lake at the edge of town and in the openspruce forest where, among the deadleaves under the shrub- bery they scratchednoisily. Here we noted also two pairs of White-throatedSparrows (Zonotrlchia albicollis), the males in full song. On May 24, at Gillam, 326 milesnortheast of The Pas, we saw neither Harris's nor White-throated Sparrows,though two Gam- bel's Sparrows,Zonotrlchia leucophrys garabeli, a Tree Sparrow,a few Lapland Longspurs,a few Robins,a Flicker, three GreaterYel- low-legs,a Baird'sSandpiper, and a SemipalmatedPlover were ob- servednot far from the railway station. Gillam liesin the migra- tory path of Harris's Sparrow,so the reasonwe did not find the speciesthere is probablythat it had not yet arrived. Whether or not the White-throatedSparrow occurs there in summerwe cannot say. As we journeyednorthward from Gillam, we passedthrough spruceforests which graduallybecame lower and thinner. The terrain was monotonouslyflat, savewhere the railway followedor crosseda river. Everywhere among the trees were snowdrifts, many of them evidentlyfive or six feet deep; snowflurries frequently envelopedthe train; flocks of migrating Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspursflew about us, boundinglow over the woodlands. Finally, when within a hundredmiles of Churchill, we beganto crossgreat stretches of open,treeless barrens, moss and grass-coveredtundra, betweenthe tonguesof spruceforest. At Churchillwe steppedfrom the train into the midstof a great, winter-boundeonstrnetion camp. Here were barracksfor sixteen hundred workmen; on the river bank stood a huge, flat structure which appearedto be a solid cementblock: the beginningsof a gigantic elevator which, when finished,would provide storage spacefor two and onehalf millionbushels of grain;this way and that led narrow-gaugerailway tracks, over which, later, dinkey engineswere to run, pulling gravel-ears,work-ears, and water- tanks; on the hill stood missionbuildings, small, one roomed, woodenbank buildings,a motionpicture 'palace,' the headquarters ThE AUK, VOL. XLIX. PLATEVII.

l•hotos by O. S. Pettingill, Jr. NESTING SITE AND NEST (No. 2) OF I-IARRIS'SSPARROW, CHURCHILL, MANITOBA. Vol. XLIX] 1932 j SEMPLEAND SU•I•ON, .N'e•'ti7• of Harris's•parrow. 169 of the Royal CanadianMounted Police,and a wirelessstation. Thiswas Churchill, a portin themaking. As we piled our baggageupon a tractor-truck,we stumbled throughwet snowtwo feet deep. To the southwardof the rocky ridgewhich extends along the shoreof the bay the snowdriftwas twenty feet deep;the mile-broadriver was frozenshut for miles inlandfrom its mouth;the bay, at the very mouthof the river, was moreor lessopen, but beyondlay a vast,dreary waste of icech, mlcs, packedsolidly enough in someplaces to permitcrossing afoot or with dog-teamand komatik, but elsewheremoving about with tide, wind,and river current. Our tent waspitched at the river mouth, in a little gully amongthe rocks. On the followingday we learnedthat by walkinginland along the easternbank of the river for aboutsix mileswe mightreach woodedcountry. There,amid waist-deep, ice-sheeted pools, slushy, gray drifts,and mud-bottomedmuskeg streams, were to be found thickstands of sprucetrees, some of themthirty, perhaps even forty feet high, with trunks a foot or more in diameterat the base; tamaracks,not yet hungwith their lacy foliage;willows, in thick tanglesat the edgesof the sprucewoods; and low shrubs,with narrow,rhododendron-like leaves. Betweenthe woodlands and the river mouth,and not morethan half a mile inlandfrom the bay, wasan areathickly setwith small,ice-bound lakes. To the westof the river roserock-faced 'hills, on whosesheltered slopesgrew irregular patches of stuntedspruce, and north of these extendeda long,barren point whichformed the easternshore of Buttoh's Bay. On May 25 we recordedamong other summerresident species, Lapland Longspurs,Piplts, Horned Larks, Pintails, and Semi- palmatedPlovers. Furthermore,we foundthat, althoughthere wasmuch snow everywhere, there were also extensive bare areas on the opentundra and along the exposedridges, and that someof the smaller,shallower ponds were actually partly open. The temperature,these first few days,ranged from 28ø F. to about60 ø F. duringthe daytime. Most of the time the mercury stooddisagreeably near the freezing-point.It wascolder at night, of course. We had considerable rain and snow. The wind was usually from the north. 170 S•rr• ANDSwrroN, Nesting ofHarris's Sparrow. •p•l

According to our observations,Harris's Sparrow arrived from the southin the Churchillregion, on May 27, a chilly, windy day. On this date, threewere seen in the low bushesalong the river bank, not more than a mile and a half inland from the mouth, and at least four miles from the spruce woods in which the birds were reputedto nest. A female,with unenlargedovaries, was collected. On the followingday a singlebird was seenamong the rocksnear our tent. It was scratchingin the mossin the shelterof a huge boulder. It suddenlystopped searching for food, lifted its head, and sang. The simple,whistled notes were the more beautiful be- causeof the roughnessof the day and scene. We continuedto see a few Harris's Sparrowshere and there on the BarrenGrounds (that is to say, on treelessareas), nearly every day duringlate May and early June. On May 30, a bright, calm day, we collecteda singingmale near camp. On June 5, two femaleswere taken amongthe willow bushesalong the river bank, about five milesfrom the sprucewoods. The ovariesof thesespeci- menswere, we found,not at all enlarged. We were at first puzzled that the birds shouldlinger in theseinhospitable, treeless surround- ings,and scarcelyknew whether to look for nestsin the woodlands or on the tundra; we finally decided,however, that individualsseen in the open countrywere migrants,en routeto more northerlyor northwesterly nesting grounds. We observeddaily, from the first of Juneon, Harris'sSparrows. In our study of them we encountereddifficulties. The territory wherethe birds were mostnumerous was so far distant from camp that, unlesswe werefortunate in meetingand hoppinga gravel-or water-train,we had to walk from five to eight milesbefore we could beginthe day'soperations. The weatherwas frequently disagree- able; it rained, sleeted,or snowed,and we had wind and sometimes fog to contendwith. We could work in the bush with comfort, even on stormy days, however;and, fortunately, the country in whichwe usuallyworked was not thicklyset with quakingmuskeg bogs. The colorationof maleand femalebirds is sosimilar that we foundwe couldnot distinguishthe sexesin the field; we couldnot, therefore, give our undivided attention to the nest building re-

• It is our belief that only the female builds the nest, since this is the rule among other members of the genus Zonotrichia with which we are acquainted. AUK, VOL. XLIX. PL.•TE VIII.

Photo by S. Prentice and J. B. Semple.

EGGS OF I-IARRIS?S SPARROW. Vol. 1932XLIXI J ol spigot. 171 males.i The territory occupiedby a pair of birdswas frequently so largethat it waseasily possible to losetrace of bothmale and female completely,when they dashedoff throughthe thickets,and to be unableto find them againfor hours. We foundthe birdsmost common at the edgesof the woodlands, in clearingsnear the railwaytrack, and in the bushymargins of burned-overareas. As a rule but onepair of birdslived in a given patch of sprucesor tamaracks;but sometimestwo or three pairs inhabitedthe samenarrow tongue of forest. By June 7, we had at least thirty pairs more or lessdefinitely locatedin an area of five squaremiles; we had not, however,wit- nesseda singleaction indicativeof nest building. The fact that Mr. Tavernerhad foundwell-developed young in the neston June 27, in 1930,disturbed us considerably.Allowing a possiblefour- teendays for incubation,another four or five for depositionof the eggs,and so on, we calculated that b« June 7 thebirds ought, at least,to be buildingtheir nests. Mr. Lloyd,who had assistedMr. Taverner during the precedingspring, allayed our anxiety some- whatby assuringus that the seasonof 1931was decidedly backward, muchlater than that of 1930,and that the birdsprobably had not yet startedtheir nesting. We continuedto collectspecimens sparingly, so as to observethe conditionof the reproductiveorgans. A malecollected on June9, and a male and two femalestaken on June11, obviouslyall were matedbirds; and yet the ovariesof the femaleswere not noticeably swollen,nor was there a hint of suchbareness on the belly as at- tendsthe periodof incubation. We watchedcertain pairs by the hour,and foundthem so amazinglynoncommltal about what we supposedto be their "territory" that we beganto wonderwhether wewere anywhere near the actual nesting grounds. The birdswould feedtogether for longperiods in themorning, working along among the mossand grass;kicking vigorously, like Fox Sparrows,through leavesand debris; then mount the low bushes,wipe their bills quickly,and fly to somefar-distant part of thewoodlands, where it wasoften impossible to findthem. Sometimes,indeed, they became mildlyexcited at our presence;whereupon they would begin i•g loudly; but they usuallysoon lost interest,wiped their bills, shookthemselves, and dashedoff, leavingus to wonderwhere their 172 SEMPLEANDSUTTON, Nesting ofHarris's Sparrow. [April[Auk nest couldbe) Frequently we found them feedingin tamarack trees;they appearedto be eatingthe buds. They werevery grace- ful in their movements,climbing about on the slender,outermost twigs,and bowingthis way and that like crossbills.Sometimes a singlebird wouldfly suddenlyfrom the groundunder a bush,as if it had just comefrom a nest. Sucha bird usuallysought a rather high perch,often the top of a dead sprucenear-by, whereit would give itself over to a spasmof alarm notes,loud enoughto summon all the yammeringLesser Yellow-legs from miles around;then it woulddart away,to be seenno more. The habit of the birds,when frightenedfrom the ground,of flying to rather high percheswas characteristic. • By mid-June,all the birdswe observedin the woodlandsappeared to be mated.s At this seasonthe malesso frequentlysang in a chorusthat it wassometimes difficult to separatea singlesong from the medley which soundedthrough the woods. The songmost frequentlyheard was a single,whistled note, tenuous,fragile, a trifle quavering,and possessedof the plaintivecharacter of the final, Peabodyphrases of the White-throatedSparrow's lay. Sometimes this notewas repeated once, twice, even four or five times,the notes trailing into eachother uncertainly. Other songswere more elab- orate, and consistedof two notesat one pitch followedby two or three notes two stepshigher, or two or three stepslower. Often the notesstruck were not quite in key, this frequentlybeing re- sponsible,no doubt, for the minor effectthe songsproduced. The songsof severalbirds were sometimesso strikinglyidentical in pitch that a distant songsounded precisely like the echoof another songheard closerat hand. In the morning,usually between eight and ten o'clock,and in the

• Mr. Taverner, in a letter addressed to the Junior author, and dated Aug. 3, 1931, states, concerning the behavior of the birds during the summer of 1930: "We found them most aggravating birds. ! personally watched pairs for many hours in the aggregate only in every ease to have them suddenly vaeate the neigh- borhood entirely and apparently permanently without giving any indieation of the position of the nest." • Mrs. Margaret M. Nice (The Condor, Vol. XXXI, p. 57) has referred to this habit, as she observed it in Oklahoma. In her own words "like Tree Sparrows [they] fly up, instead of diving into depths of cover as Song and Lincoln Sparrows

* As late as June 11, 13, and 15, solitary, apparently unmated birds were observed in patches of willow, or among the bare rocks, on the Barren-Grounds. VoL1932 XLIX] I SEMPLEAND SUTTON, Nesting ofHarris's Sparrow. 173 late afternoonor evening,when the weatherwas fine, all the birds sang togetherfor long periods. Sometimes,indeed, the chorus continuedpractically all day long. Duringthe regularsong periods the performersoften gave their songswith suchregularity that two or three birds, singingat differentpitches, sometimes produced simpletunes which were repeated again and again,unless some dis- turbancecaused one of the singersto stop. One suchtune, which the junior author heard and recognizedinstantly as part of the themeof a familiar classicalcomposition, was produced by at least two and possiblythree birds. It was repeated,almost flawlessly, about twenty times.t

Sincewe hesitatedto collectbirds whose nests we hopedto find later, we did not shootany singingbirds in an attemptto learn whetherthe femaleever sings. Many times,however, we gained the impressionthat matedbirds were singing to eachother. One suchcase we notedon June8. We were.watching two birdswhich we assumedto be mates and which were feedingin a tamarack; one of them was smallerthan the other, and the two seemedto be attachedto eachother. Suddenlyfeeding stopped and both began to sing,one in alower, gentlervoice than the other. Harris'sSparrow has another,louder, and very strikingsong which we heard only occasionally.This songwas so distinctly • Hearing this faintlint tune in the woods under such unusual c•ces so surprised and delighted me that I jotted it down as best I could and whistled it every day until I got home. There I enlisted the help of my mother, Mrs. Lola MAkseh Sutton, who soon found, in her musieal Hbrary, the composition we were seeking. The ahove tune is almost precisely the first four measures of Schubert's Minuet from the Sonata in G, Opus 78, No. 3, save for the omission from the birds' performance of the very firs• note of the composition. The hiatus is filled, in the above score, by a quarter rest. The Minuet is an allegro moderate movement, whereas the birds sang it more as a largo. The first five notes of the above tune were not definitely in key; they were just a trifle high, perhaps a quarter-step off, for the Schubert composition. The remarkable feature of this performance is, of course, that, •hough produced by •wo or three different birds, supposedly singing independently and at different pitches (like belied horsesat the circus), it kept so nearly true to a recognizable key note according to our diatonic scale.--G. M. S. 174 SEMPLEA•qD Su•ro•q, Nesting ofHarris's Sparrow. AprilAuk differentfrom the usualwhistle, and so suggestiveof songsof some of the other speciesof sparrows,that for sometime we couldnot placeit. It beganwith a fine, swiftly descending,rather tuneless whistleor squeal,and elosedwith a seriesof from three to sixrough, buzzing,drawled notes whleh deeidedlyresembled the usualsong of the Clay-coloredSparrow (Spizella pallida). We wrote the songdown thus: Eeeeeeeeee, zhee, zhee, zhee, zhee, zhee. We notleed that the bird usuallygave this songfrom a high perehand that, after it had sung,it droppedto the groundstealthily or flew off hurriedly. The alarm note wasa loud weenk,or wink, readily distinguishable from the weaker zheekof Gambel'sSparrow and from the heavy tchupof the Fox Sparrow(Passerella i. iliaca). The callwhich eompaniedmating was a fine,rolling chatter, similar to that given at suchtime by many other membersof the sparrowtribe. On June 15, a bird earryinga wispof dry grasswas observedto go to the groundsomewhere near the baseof a largespruce stump in a groveof live sprueetrees whieh grew near a smalllake and on rather high ground. Though a prolongedseareh was made, the nest was not found. We were torn, that evening,between high enthusiasmand frank exasperation,for we knew that there must be a nest somewherein the vielnity and we alsoknew we had not found it ! On the next day, June 16, in anotherpart of the forest,a nest with four slightlyineubated eggs was diseovered(No. 1). The circumstancesof the finding were these: After watchinga certain pair of birdsfor a time,the juniorauthor started aeross a wet,open sprueewoods, bound for an areaa miledistant whieh the birds were known to frequent. Just as he entereda clump of comparatively tall sprucetrees, he noticeda Harris'sSparrow picking at its belly with its beak, as if it had just eomefrom a nest. He watehedthe bird for a time without moving,and then deliberatelyand quietly retracedhis steps,marking the spotcarefully. After aboutfifteen minuteshe returnedbriskly, walkednoisily through the water, the mossymounds, and bushes,and, just as he wasabout to set foot uponthe erest of oneof the water-bound hummocks--he flushed the bird. The nest was less than twelve inehes from his foot. The bird flewdirectly from the nest,without any attemptat feigninginjury; Vol. XLIX] it perchedon a deadspruce bough about twenty yar• away,where it wipedits bill. It gaveno alarmnote. The bird, a female,was collectedat once,to make identificationcertain. The nest,like that foundby ErnestThompson Seton, 1 waslined with grass,and in appearanceand locationresembled that of a White-throatedSparrow. It wasplaced a little to the southward of the top of a mossy,shrub-covered, water-girt mound in a cool, shadowyspot, about thirty yards from the edge of a clump of rather tall sprucetrees. It was about thirteen inchesabove the brown water which surrounded the mound. The foundation material was largelymoss, with a few leaves,slender weed stalks, and grasses;the liningwas entirely of grass. The cupwas 1• inches deepand 2• inchesin diameter,as measured in the field. The walls wererather thin, for the mossinto whichthe nestwas built wasvery deepand soft. The eggswere sheltered from aboveby a few sprigs of Narrow-leavedLabrador Tea (Ledu•npalette aug•t{foliu•n ttooker)2 which were then in bud. The male bird was not seen. The clumpof treeswhere this nestwas found was in the forestabout two miles back from the edge of the BarrenGrounds; the woods were open, however,and the mossy,grassy spaces between the patchesof treeshad much the appearanceof tundra. On the night of June18, the entireChurchill region was swept by a terrific windstormfrom the northeast,accompanied first by rain and then by snow. In the morningwe found the groundcovered with six inchesof snowwhich had drifted badly in someplaces. Lapland Longspur,Tree Sparrow,and SemipalmatedSandpiper nestswhich we had beenwatching were completely buried, though incubatingHorned Larks and SemipalmatedPlovers were found sitting on their eggsin holesin the snowseveral inches deepl This storm must have worked considerable havoc with the Harris's Sparrows,for even in the shelteredwoodlan• the snowwas deep and considerablydrifted. On June 20, however,we found a nest (No. 2), with four eggs, whichhad weatheredthe stormsuccessfully. This nestwas almost certainlybuilt by the bird which had been seenon June 15 with

i 1908, The Auk, Vol. XXV, p. 72. • For the identification of t•e flowering shrubs mentioned in this paper we are indebted to Dr. O. E. Jennings of the Carnegie Museum. ß 176 s•m,• AN,Su•'roN, Nesting ofHarris's Sparrow. nestingmaterial in its beak, for it was situatedonly about fifteen feet from the spotwhere the bird had beenseen to go to the ground. It wasplaced at the baseof a smallclump of shrubs,between two smallmoundsof moss,not far from a stream,at the edgeof a burned- over area. It was constructedentirely of grass,was situatedupon a slopewith southernexposure, and was shelteredfrom aboveby a few twigs. The incubatingfemale flushed at a distanceof about ten feet. The female,and the male whiehwas singingnear-by, were eolleeted. One member of the party guarded the nest for hourswhile anotherreturned to eamp (at leastsix milesaway) for the earnera. The eggswere quite fresh. On June26, we madeour first trip to the westof the river. Here, in the irregularstands of sprueeon the hillsidesabout a mile baek from the river, and especiallyin the openforest about two miles inland from the shoreof Button's Bay, the birds were, at least loeally, downright abundant. Every suitable patch of spruee harboredone or more pairs. Alarm notesor songssounded almost constantlyas we walkedthrough the woods. The areawhich appearedto be best suitedto the needsof the birds was the damp, rather shelteredwoodland, just at the foot of a roekyhill about six miles west of the fiver and about two miles inland from the shore of Button'sBay. On this date four nestswere found. The firstof these(nest No. 3) heldfive fresheggs. It wasprettily situatedat the edgeof a patchof stuntedspruce trees on a hillside, under a elumpof floweringAlpine Bearberry,Arctostaphylos alpina (Linnaeus)Sprengel. The bird wasfirst seennot far from the nest, perehedon a low dead spruee,whenee she calledin an agitated manner. The nest was locatedsome time later by walking noisily throughthe samepart of the thicket; the bird flushedat the loud soundof the breakingof a heavystub. The nest was well hidden under the shrubs;it was made entirely of grass. The femalewas eolleeted. Anothernest (No. 4), eontainingfour fresheggs, was situated at the baseof a deadspruee, the lowerboughs of whieheoneealed it. Thoughnumerous living spruces stood in the vicinityit wasplaced moreor lessin the open. It wasfound by flushingthe femalebird, at a distanceof about five feet. She at onceset up a loud elamor. She was eolleeted, and in her oviduet was found an almost eom- Vol.9s2 XLIX] , SON, of Spow. 177 pletelyformed egg, indicating that ttds set wouldprobably have had five eggswhen complete. A small egg, probablythat of a Gambel'sSparrow, was found on the mossnot far from the nest. The maleof this pair, as well as the female,was collected. Nest No. 5, containingthree eggs,was situatedat the foot of a largerock over which lay a largedead spruce branch; it wasbuilt of grass. The eggswere so heavily incubated that they weredifiqcult to prepare. •[•nefact that this, the smallestset thus far taJ•en,had obviouslybeen laid earlierin the seasonthan the otherssurprised us. It is interestingto note that in nestsof the Horued/_•rk found about this time, setsof three eggswere invariably well incubated, evenat the point of hatching,whereas sets of four werefresh. •qxis we believewas not altogethera coincidence;it wouldappear that the birdswhich began their mating activ•tiesearlier in the season laid a smallerset of eggs,either becausethey sensedthat the food supplymight be inadequate for a largerbrood, or becausetempera- ture,or foodsupply, or someother factor influenced the procreative urgein the parentbirds. Nest No. 6 wassituated at the baseof small,dead spruce, on the southernexposure of a mossyhl]rnmock, in rather openspruce and tamarack woods,about twenty yards from a small, tree-trimmed lake. It was made entirely of grass,and was shelteredfrom above by a few sprigsof Labradortea. The setof four eggswas interesting in that one,which was noticeablysmaller than the others,had the generalappearance of a Gambel'sSparrow's egg. The male bird had soundedthe alarm sometime beforethe female,which was collected,flew from the nest. Sheflushed almost underfoot. On June29, at MosquitoPoint, on the westernbank of the river, and aboutnine milesinland from the mouth,we did not seemany Harris'sSparrows, though some of the countryappeared to be well suited to their needs. NestsNos. 7 and 8 werefound on July 1, in the/_•udingLake district, about nine miles south of Churchill. These nests were constructedand situated similarly to the others, and contained, respectively,three and four eggs,all considerablyincubated. Both nestswere discoveredby flushingincubating lbirds. /ks the seasonadvanced the femalessat muchmore closely. Sincewe wereespecially cager to securesome photographs of the 178 SEMPLEAND SUTTON, Nesting ofHarris's Sparrow. •Auk[April adult bird at the nest,Mr. Pettingill, on July 3, erecteda blind near one of thesenests. He remainedin the blind for two hours,but the female did not return; she flew from tamarack to tamarack in an excitedmanner, but uttered no sound. The male did not appear, thougha singingbird washeard about a hundredyards away. On July 4 this nest was apparently deserted. Mr. Pettingill then moved the blind to the secondof the two nestsfound on July 1. Unfortunatelythe weather turned coldand stormy,and the birds desertedthis nest also; on July 9, the nest was found to be water- soaked,and the eggs,though pipped, were stone cold. In the meantime,on July 3, a nest (No. 9) with five fresh eggs was foundnot far from the placewhere the first nesthad beendis- covered. This probablywas the nest of a pair of birds which had lost their first set of eggsin the storm of June 18. The nest was situatedunder a clumpof Labradortea in full bloomat the edge of an old burning,near a handsomestand of spruceswhich stood in the shallowvalley of a small,poorly defined,muskeg stream. The femalebird flushedalmost underfoot, flew directly to the top of a sprucenear by, and beganweenking loudly. Shewas joined almost immediately by the male, and then by another pair of Harris's Sparrows,several Lesser Yellow-legs, a Black-pollWarbler, and a pair of Gray-cheekedThrushes. She was watchedfor fully half an hourafter shehad left the nest. After her first tiradeof weenking was over, sheflew off throughthe woods,fell to feeding,and after about ten minutes returned to continue her alarum. She did not go back to her eggs,though the distanceat whichshe was being watchedfrom acrossthe burningwas considerable. On July 6, the authorsleft Churchill,while. Mr. Lloyd and Mr. Pettingillremained a weeklonger, to collectadditional material and to take photographs.On July 9 a nest (No. 10) containingthree half-grownbirds and one addledegg was found. An all day at- tempt wasmade to get a photograph,but the birdswere exceedingly wary and no goodresults were obtained. During the following night the youngbirds disappeared,probably victims of an Arctic fox or weasel. Mr. Pettingill'snotes concerning his experiencesin the blind are of interest. They read, in part: "I set up my blind five feet away fromthe nestand attempted to makephotographs. Lloyd remained Vol.1932 XLIX1 J SEMPLEAND SU'I•ON, Ne,Sti•O of Harris's B•rrow. 179 in the vicinity until I was preparedto photographand then de- parted. The birdscontinued to "w/nk," one continuo•ly,during my presence.After 11/•hours one of the birdssang for a whilea short distanceaway and returnedsuddenly to continuewith the racket. "For three hours I remained in the blind. I could see no indica- tion throughoutmy stay that either parent wouldapproach the nest. Both birdspassed from onetree to anotheraround the blind, makingthis circlinga continuousperformance. Not oncedid they drop to the groundnor comeany nearerthan this particularcircle of trees. During the last hour I remainedin the blind, the birds wereas excitedas they werethe first hour. Had I beenstanding there without a blind they probablywould have been no more alarmed. I feel sure that if I had left the blind near the nest the birds would have deserted."

Foodof Harris's Sparrowon its NestingGround. The Harris'sSparrow is primarilya groundfeeder. It kicksand scratchesenergetically among the fallen leaves and dry weed- stalks,and worksits way throughthe grassand mosssearching carefullyfor seedsand insectsas it goes. We rarely sawthe birds feedingfor a very longperiod anywhere above the ground. They were sometimesseen in tamaracktrees, however, where they appearedto be findingsome sort of insect,or perhapsinsect eggs, in the clusters of leaves. We preservedthe stomachsof severalof the specimenscollected, and sixof thesehave been examined by the Bureauof the Biological Surveyof the U.S. Departmentof Agriculture. Accordingto the reportgiven to us by Mr. ClarenceCottam of his identificationof materialfound, the birdsconsume considerably more vegetable matter (about 66%) than animal matter. Amongthe vegetable matter found were seedsof variousgrasses, sedges and bulrushes; seedsor fruit-pulpof thecurlew-berry, cranberry or an alliedform, and the blueberry;seeds of birch,pigweed, and lamb'squarters; and a considerablequantity of oatswhich doubtless had beenfound by the birdsalong the railwaytracks. Among the animal matter found were remainsof numerousin- sects,both in adult and larval stages--ground-beetles,leaf-eating 180 SEMPLEANDSlyrToI•I, Nesting ofHarris's Sparrow. [AprilAuk beetles, wood-borers,dick-beetles, leaf-miners, stink-bugs, small moths, horse-flies,ants, ichneumon-flies,crickets and other forms; severalsmall spiders;and fragmentsof small snails and other mollusks. Sincecertain of our readersmay be interestedin a derailed countof Mr. Cottam'sfindings, we presenthis reportin its entirety here:

StomachContents of six Harris's Sparrowscollected at Churchill, Manitoba during May and June, 1931. 1. Stomachone-third full. Food material 45 per cent; gravel, etc., 55. Percentageof animal matter, 9; of vegetable,91. Contents: Shell frag, of bivalve = 5%; frag. of 1 Formicidac: 1%; frag. of undeterminedColeoptera = 1%; mandiblesof 1 Acrididac = 2%; frag. of Poaceaeseeds = 1%; 1 seed of Scirpus sp.: 3%; seed frag. of about 20 Carex sp. = 50%; seedcoating and undeterminedplant fiber 37%. 2. S•omaehfull. Food material 99 per cent; gravel, etc., 1. Percentageof animal matter, 24; of vegetable, 70. Contents: Frag. of 1 Chrysomelidae,• 1%; frag. of 1 Buprestidae 1%; frag. of I-Iemiptera • trace; frag. of 1 Lepidopterouslarva = 1%; frag. of 1 Diptera • 1%; frag. of 1 Vespoidea= 5%; frag. of 1 Myrmi- einae = 1%; frag. of 5 Formica sp. = 5%; frag. of 3 undeterminedFormi- cidac = 5%; frag. of 3 undeterminedI-Iymenoptera = 3%; spiderfrag. 1%; Mollusk frag. = trace; frag. of 4 seedsof Empetrumnigrum = 4%; 01 seedsCyperus sp. = 00%; 10 seedsof Erieaeeae = 3%; 12 seeds= 1%; 4 seedsof Vacciniumsp. = 1%; undeterminedplant fiber = 7%. 3. Stomachfull. Food materiM 99 per cent; gravel, etc., 1. Percentage of animal matter, 73; of vegetable, 27. Contents:Fragments of 22 Elateridae = 50%; frag. of 1 larva of Elater- idac = 1%; frag. of 1 large Cureulionidae = 3%; frag. of I-Ieteroptera trace; frag. of undetermined Diptera and about 500 eggs = 8%; frag. of Lepidopterouslarvae • 1%; frag. of 2 Formica sp. = 1%; frag. of 13 Myrmiea sp. = 5%; frag. of 1 Ichneumonidac= 1%; frag. of 1 Alsyiidae = trace; spiderfragments • 3%; frag. of bivalve, = trace; 1 seedof Amaran- thus sp. = trace; 2 seedsof Carex sp. = 1%; frag. of 1 seedof Vaccinium sp. • trace; 4 seedsof Empetrumnigrum = 2%; 2 seedsand fruit pulp of Arctostaphylosuva-ursi: 1%; undeterminedfruit pulp = 10%; 125 seeds of Ericaceae = 7%. 4. Stomach full. Food material 92 per cent; gravel, etc. 8. Percentageof animal matter, 80; of vegetable,20. Contents: Fragments of 6 Cryobiussp. and 1 other Carabidae = 15%; frag. of 2 Cercyonsp. = 1%; frag. of 1 Chrysomelidae-- 2%; frag. of un- ¾ol.932 XLIX] j 181 determinedColeoptera = 2%; frag. of 2 Coleopterouslarvae -- 7%; frag. of 17 Pentatomidae-• 1%; frag. of 4 largeNoctuidae larvae = 33%; frag. of 2 undeterminedLepldopterous larvae = 5%; frag. of 1 larvaeof Chrysops sp. (Tabanidae) = 1%; frag. of Gastropod-- 1%; frag. of undetermined Hymenoptera-- trace;frag. of 3 spidersof whichone was Attidae = 12%; 2 seedsof Carezsp. = 1%; 2 seedsof Cyperassp. = trace; frag. of 1 seed of Betidasp. = 1%; frag of 1 seedof l•mp•trum nigrum -- 1%; finely brokenup seedfrag. of what appearedto be Arctostaphylossp = 7%; seeds,frag. of glumeof Poaceae-- 1%; 12 seedsheld = 5%; 22 unidenti- fied seeds held = 4%. 5. Stomachtwo-thirds full. Food material 60 per cent;gravel, etc. 40. Percentageof animalmatter, 10; of vegetable,90. Contents:Fragments of 1 Curculionidaeand other Coleopterousfrag- ments = 5%; frag. of 3 Formicasp. = 5%; frag. of 3 seedsof Arctostaphy- los u•a-ursi = 7%1 7 .seedsof l•m.i•etrumnigrum = 5%; frag. of 2 seeds Cyperussp. = 1%; frag. of about 48 seedsof Carex(near rostrata) = 50%; 2 seedsof Carexsp. =. 1%; frag. of 2 seedsof Chenopodiumsp. -- 1%; determinedplant fiber = 25%. 6. Stomachthree-fifths full. Foodmaterial 50 per cent;gravel,. etc., 50. Percentageof animalmatter, 3; of vegetable,97. Contents:Frag. of Colcoptera-- 1%; undeterminedinsect fragment trace; frag. of mollu•sk= 2%; frag. of 4 seedcoats of undeterminedcom- posite = 5; frag. of seedcoats of A•ena sat/•a = 89%; undeterminedplant fiber -- 3%. Eggs. The seriesof twenty-nineeggs collected shows considerable vari- ationin sizeand shape,and in the arrangementof the markings,but not in color. On thewhole, the eggsare o•ate in shape,though they are a trifle slenderfor the 100x 68 mm. requirementfor this class, and not slenderenough for the 100x 55 ram. requirementfor the elongateovate class. Someof the eggsare decidedlyrounded, others longand narrowed. In eachof threesets (two setsof four and one of three eggs,perhaps laid by young females)one egg is small enoughto be considereda runt. The averagesize of twenty-sixI-Iarrls's Sparrow eggs (the three above-mentionedrunt eggsnot included)is .94 x .65 inches. They are, accordingly,larger than eggsof either the White-crownedor White-throatedSparrow, though not of theFox Sparrow. Ridgway gives the measurementsof the Fox Sparrow'segg as .91 x .63 inches; Coues, as .95x .70; Forbush, as .85 to .94x .63 to .71; Brewer,as .92x .70; and Chaputah,as .80x .63 (cf. Bendire). 182 SEMPLEAND SUTTON, Nesting ofHarris's Sparrow. [AprilAuk

The Harris'sSparrow is assuredlya longerbird than the Fox Spar- row, but it is moreslender, and its greaterlength is, perhaps,chiefly due to the greaterlength of the reefrices. The groundcolor of the Harris'sSparrow eggs, virtually through- out the series,is pale glaucousgreen. • The markings,which vary somewhatin intensity,but not in hue,take the form of splotches, spotsand scrawls, sometimes in a sortof irregularwreath about the larger end, but more often generallydistributed over the whole. The markingsare of varyingdegrees of intensityof pecanbrown.

Measurementsin inchesof Harvis's SparrowEggs. Nest No. Egg No. I Egg No. 2 Egg No. 3 Egg No. 4 Egg No. 5 I .94x .66 .90x .65 .93x 66 .92x .65 2 .86x .66 .94x .67 .95x 65 1.02x .64 3 .95x .68 .94x .65 .96x 65 1.00x .64 .94x .65 4 .93x .65 .95x .64 .93x 65 ß93 x . 59* 5 .91x .64 .93x .65 ß84x 62* 6 .91x .67 .92x .66 .89x 65 ß79 x . 60* 9 .94x .63 .97x .65 .99x 63 .95x .63 .98x .64 * These somewhatundersized eggs we have consideredrunts and have not included them in the averagesß

Summary. The springseason of 1931was later than that of 1930,and it was probably later than usual. The Harrls's Sparrowsreturned to Churchillfrom the southon May 27 in 1931,the malesin full song, andsome of the birdsapparently mated. Nestbuilding on the whole did not beginbefore the end of the first weekof June,the first nest, discoveredon June 16, containingfour slightly incubated eggs. Of the nine setsfound, five were of four eggs,two were of five eggs, and two were of three eggs;and one nest was found containing three youngand an addledegg. The nestswere built chieflyof grass,with a liningof finergrass (no hair, feathers,or plant downof any sort)and were situated usually in mossyhummocks among the stuntedspruce trees, often on a small"island," undersome sort of low shrub,and on a sheltered,southern exposure. The femaleonly wasfound to incubate. Early in the seasonthe birds,both males

Underlined words in this description are from l•idgway's Color Standards and 2Vornenclature. Vol.1932 •Clm•IX1 j 8EMPLEAND SUTTON, •re,• O,f-•/•,8'$•'0•. 183 and females, showed but little attachment to the nests; later, however,females which had beenflushed usually returned to their eggswithin half an hour. But onebrood is rearedduring a season; nestsfound with fresheggs in late Juneor early July had probably beenbuilt after the destructionof earliernestsby the savagebliz- zardof June18. The femalewas found to incubateclosely, flushing only on nearapproach; in leavingthe nestshe flew up to a spruce- top or otherrelatively high perch, without any attemptat feigning injury. Sewickley,Pennsylvania.