114 THE DESERT SPARROW. 



habits these little fellows a|>[)r(jach more closely to colimizint;- than anv other 

 members of the Sparrow family. Large tracts of land, apparently suitable, 

 are left untenanted; while, in a near-by field <:)f a few acres, half a dozen 

 pairs may be found nesting'. More recently the birds haye accepted the 

 shelter of irrigated tracts upon the East-side, and their numliers would seem 

 almost certainly to ])e upon the increase. 



To' ascertain the presence of these birds, the ear-test is best, wlien once 

 the song is mastered. The latter consists of a series of lisping and buzzing 

 notes, fine only in the sense of being small, and quite unmusical, tsiit, tsut, 

 tsii zi'czccztsulmt. The sound instantly recalls the eastern Grasshopper Spar- 

 row ( Cofiiniiciihis Siiz'amuiiimi f^asscrimis) . who is an own cousin: Ijut the 

 preliminary and closing flourishes are a good deal longer than those of the 

 related species, and the buzzing strain shorter. 



Li>\e-making goes liy e-xample as well as by season, so that when the 

 choral feyer is on tliey are all at it. The males will sing from the ground 

 rather than keep silence, altho thev prefer a weed-top, a fence post, or eyen a 

 conxenient tree. The female listens patiently near by, or if she tries to slip 

 away for a bit of food, the jealous loyer recalls her to duty by an ardent chase. 



The nest is settled snugly in the dead grasses of last year's ungathered 

 crop, and is thus both concealed from abox'e and upborne from below, and 

 is itself carefully done in line dead grasses. 



The sitting bird does not often permit a close approach, but rises from 

 the nest at not less than thirty feet. The precise spot is, therefore, very 

 difiicult to locate. If discovered the laird will potter about with fine afTection 

 of listlessness, and seems to consider that she has done her full duty in not 

 showing the eggs. 



No. 44. 



DESERT SPARROW. 



A. n. IT. No. 573 a. Amphispiza bilineata deserticola Ridgw. 



Description. — Adults: Above lirownish gray, Ijmwncr on middle of back 

 and on wings; a conspicuous white su])erciliary stri]3e bounded narrowly by black 

 above and separated from white malar stripe (not reaching base of bill) by gray 

 on sides of head ; lores, anterior portion of malar region, chin, throat and chest 

 centrally black, the last named with conve.x posterior outline ; remaining under- 

 parts white tinged with grayish on sides and flanks ; tail blackish, the outer 

 web of outermost rectrix cliiefly white, the inner web with white spot on tip, 

 second rectrix (sometimes third or even fourth ) tipped with white on inner web. 

 Bill dusky; feet and legs brownish black. Young birds like adults but without 

 black ]5attern of head markings ; chin and throat white or flecked with grayish ; 

 breast streaked with same and back faintlv streaked with dusky; some bufTy 



