WESTERN BIRDS Sparrow 



told also that some of these birds nest in the mountains 

 from southern Oregon to central California, and east to 

 Wyoming and southern New Mexico. 



They are about seven inches long and are particularly 

 handsome, well-groomed birds, whose name, however, is 

 something of a misnomer, since the crown is not white 

 in the way the name would suggest. Rather it is a 

 black-and-white striped, the center being white, with a 

 black stripe on each side which also extends to the bill 

 and before the eye. On each side of this, extending 

 back from the eye, is another white stripe. The nape 

 and under parts are a soft gray; the back is a dark 

 grayish-brown streaked with darker and white. The 

 wings and tail are brownish, the latter with two irregu- 

 lar white bars. The bill is horn-colored. 



Though these aristocrats of the Sparrow tribe are rare 

 enough to make their presence fully appreciated wherever 

 seen, we are fortunate in having two subspecies that are 

 abundant on the Western Coast for a portion of the 

 year. These are the Gambel, or Intermediate, Sparrow, 

 which breeds from Alaska to Montana and eastern Ore- 

 gon; migrates south through the western United States 

 and winters from northern California and Utah, south; 

 straggling east in migration to Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, 

 and eastern Texas. Also Nuttall's Sparrow, which 

 breeds on the Pacific Coast as far south as San Luis 

 Obispo County, California, wintering from central Ore- 

 gon, southward. 



The chief difference between these birds and the 

 White-crown is in the crown, the black before the eye 

 being wanting in the subspecies, and the white stripe 

 over the eye extending to the bill. 



In the Nuttall the median white crown stripe is nar- 

 rower than the black ones enclosing it, and the upper 

 parts have a brown cast rather than gray. 



The young of all these birds do not get the black- 

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