THE NUTTALL SPARROW. 135 



stronghold, and tliey are sometimes so hanl put to it for shelter that they 

 resort in numbers to the sage-brush, where they affect great secretiveness. 



These handsome and courtly gentlemen with their no less interesting, 

 if somewhat plainer, wives are far more reserved than their talents would 

 warrant. Our approach has sent a score of them scurrying intO' cover, a 

 neglected rose-briar patch which screens a fence, and now we cannot see 

 one of them. An occasional sharp dj:ink of warning or protest comes out 

 of the screen, or a suppressed titter of excitement, as two ]>irds jostle in their 

 effort to keep out of sight. \\'e are being scrutinized, however, bv twenty 

 pairs of sharp eyes, anil when our probation is ended, now one bird and now 

 another hdjis u]) to an exposed branch to see and be seen. 



What distinguished foreigners they are, indeed, with their white crowns, 

 slightly raised and sharply offset by the black stripes which flank them, — 

 Russians, perhaps, with shakos of sable and ermine. The bird has an aristo- 

 cratic air which is unmistakable; and. once he has deigned to show himself, 

 appears tO' expect deference as his due. What a pity they will not make 

 their homes with us, but must needs go further north ! 



As diligently as I have searched for this species, I liave never found a 

 specimen in the sunmier months^, nor is there any record of the bird's nest- 

 ing in Washington. This is the more remarkable in that the type form 

 (Z. Iciicof^hrYs ) breeds extensively "thruout the high mountain districts of 

 the western United States" (Ridgway), exclusive of Washington and Oregon, 

 southward to the San Francisco Mountains of Arizona, "northward to north- 

 ern California (Mount Shasta, etc.)." In view of this, one may feel free 

 to suggest that the Camp Harney record'', referred to gainbclii, is really 

 referable tO' the typical form, and that as such it represents a northern exten- 

 sion r)f U'licophrys, rather than a southern extension of gainbclii. 



No. 54. 



NUTTALL'S SPARROW. 



A. O. U. No. 554 b. Zonotrichia leucophrys niittalli Ridgw. 



Synonyms. — Formerly called G.ambel's Sparrow. WhiTE-crowned Spar- 

 row (name properly confined to Z. leucophrys). Crown Sparrow. 



Description. — .Idnlts: Like preceding but general tone of coloration much 

 darker ; streaks of back and scapulars deepest brown or blackish ; general ground- 

 color of upperparts light olive-gray; median crown-stripe narrower, dull white; 



a. Until the season of 1908. See ante under "Migrations."' 



b. "(?) Bendire, Proc. Bost. Soc. N. H. XIX., 1877, 118 (Camp Harney, e. Oregon, breeding)" 

 (Ridgway;. 



