WESTERN BIRDS Sparrow 



These birds are rather handsome and are not at all 

 shy, running about on the beach near you, and bounding 

 away in rapid flight if you come too close, often giving 

 their weak sit or chip as they go. 



GENUS CHONDESTES : LABK SPAR- 

 ROW. 



Lark Sparrow: Chondestes grammacus grammacus. 

 FAMILY— FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 



One of the most attractive and common birds in its 

 range is the Lark Sparrow, a summer resident of the 

 Mississippi Valley east of the Great Plains, and extend- 

 ing east to western Pennsylvania, western Maryland, 

 and northwestern West Virginia; sometimes straggling 

 into other nearby States. 



The bird on the Pacific Coast, and extending east to 

 central North Dakota and eastern Texas, is a subspecies 

 known as the Western Lark Sparrow (C. g. strigatus) , a 

 bird differing chiefly in the intensity of colorings rather 

 than markings. 



These birds usually go about in small flocks in the 

 open country and are a delight to the beholder, not only 

 because of their pleasing manners and vocal ability, but 

 because they are easy of identification. Well do I re- 

 member the first time I saw them in the west as they 

 foraged among the weeds of a vacant lot next my home, 

 flew onto the telephone wires, or into the trees in the 

 most friendly way. As they rested above my head the 

 black button upon the otherwise immaculate white breast, 

 identified them, the white crescent at the end of the 

 spread tail as they flew likewise proclaimed them, as 

 well as the bridled head with its brown and white striped 

 crown, its short white stripe below eye, broad chestnut 



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