Sage-Sparrow 383 



and is composed of stiff grasses lined with finer, and 

 often a few hairs ; the eggs, usually three in number, 

 are faint blueish-white without spots, or rarely faintly 

 spotted, and measure about "73 x '58. 



The typical form of the species {A. bilineata) replacing 

 A. b. deserticola in middle and eastern Texas, is said to 

 reach western Kansas, but the example from Fremont 

 CO. alluded to above, undoubtedly should be referred 

 to the last named form, distinguished by its larger 

 size, paler colour and smaller tail-spot. 



Sage -Sparrow. Amphispiza nevadensis. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 574.1 — Colorado Records — Ridgway 73, p. 182 ; 

 Henshaw 75, p. 275 ; Drew 85, p. 16 ; Cooke 97, pp. 106, 166 ; Dille 

 04, p. 79 ; 09, p. 87 ; Henderson 03, p. 108 ; 09, p. 237 ; Oilman 07, 

 p. 157 ; Rockwell 08, p. 173 ; Warren 09, p. 16. 



Description. — Male — Above pale sandy-brown, faintly streaked with 

 dusky, becoming slaty-grey on the head and nape, including the ear- 

 coverts ; wings and tail dusky, edged with pale brown, outer tail- 

 feathers white on the outer web, and to a lesser extent along the edge of 

 the inner ; the angle and edge of the wing pale yellow ; below, including 

 a supraloral spot, a ring round the eye, and a stripe on the sides of the 

 neck, white ; a semi- concealed spot in the middle of the breast and 

 stripes on the sides dusky ; iris dark brown, bill blackish, lower man- 

 dible with a blueish tinge ; legs homy-brown. Length 6-10 ; wing 3-20 ; 

 tail 2-90 ; culmen -40 ; tarsus -80. 



The female is slightly smaller — wing about 3 -0 ; the young birds 

 have the head, chest and sides streaked like the back. 



Distribution. — Breeding from Oregon and Wyoming south to New 

 Mexico ; further south to the Mexican border, western Texas and 

 southern California in winter. 



In Colorado the Sage-Sparrow is fairly common in the sage-brush 

 plains of the south and west of the State, while along the eastern bases 

 of the Rocky Mountains it is a rare straggler, and has only been once 

 met with by Dille, near Longmont, on March 18th, 1904. It is reported 

 by Aiken (Henshaw, 75) from the San Luis VaUey, where Brurmer also 

 states it is a characteristic bird of the sage-brush flats below 8,000 feet ; 

 Warren informs me it is fairly common about Coventry in the spring, 

 and Rockwell gives it as a common summer resident in Mesa co. at 

 low elevations. 



