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148 THE CONDOR Vol. XXI dow over part of the open flat and while a few pairs of Song Sparrows nest in the fringe of spirea nearest the water they much prefer the open sunny side. The type specimen of Melospiza melodia merrilli was collected not far from the haunt I have described, by Dr. J. C. Merrill, and described by Mr. William Brewster in the Auk, vol. 13, 1896, p. 46. In his notes on this species (Auk, vol 15, 1898, p. 16) Dr. Merrill gives as his earliest nesting record, fe- male incubating April 24, 1896, which was a cold backward season. My earli- est nesting record, nest wedged amid group of spirea stems 18 inches from base of bush, four eggs, female incubating, ground slightly covered w?th water, was April 12, 1918, a warm advanced spring. Nests with the first set of eggs can be looked for with certainty from after the first week in April until the first Fig. 28. NEST OF MERRILL SONG SPARROW CONTAINING FIVE YOUNG, WITH FE]?[ALE PARENT FEEDING TItEM; PHOTOGRAPHED MAY 9.5, 1918. THis NEST, ALSO IN A SPIREA BUSH, WAS. LOCATED 35 YARDS FROM THE ONE SHOWN IN THE PRECEDING PICTURE. week in May and are invariably placed in bushes partly submerged in water. There is no doubt that many of the first nests are washed out and the con- tents destroyed, during backward seasons, by heavy freshets. With incubation lasting twelve days and the young able to leave the nest at the age of 14 to 16 days, the first brood are able to rustle for themselves by the time the majority of the other song birds are just selecting nesting sites. The first nests of the season, built in spirea bushes, are rather bulky affairs, wedged in against a number of stems for support. It does not take much