FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. MS 



brown bordered above and beloAv by narrow blackisb streak ; malar region 

 whitish, bordered below by dusky streak along- side of throat ; hind neck 

 gray, narrowly streaked ; back and scapulars brown, broadly streaked 

 with black ; wing bars buify ; nnder parts whitish, Avashed with brown on 

 chest and sides. Adults in ivinter : crown streaks narrower, and plumage 

 more buffy. Youny : upper parts buffy or clay-colored ; chest and sides 

 buffy, streaked with black. Male: length (skins) 4.()4-r).41, wing 2.34- 

 2.49, tail 2.18-2.44, bill .;:54.-.o9. Female: length (skins) 4.64-5.25. wing 

 2.28-2.51, tail 2.08-2.40, bill .35-.39. 



Remarks. — The clay-colored and the Brewer sparrow both have 

 streaked upper parts, but the clay-colored has only a median crown stripe 

 and plain gray hind neck, while the Brewer is uniformly streaked on head, 

 neck, and back. 



Distribution. — Breeds in Transition and Canadian zone from the Sas- 

 katchewan plains south to Iowa and Nebraska and from Illinois west to 

 western Montana ; migrates south to Lower California and southern end of 

 Mexican tablelands. 



Nest. — In bushes- in open situations. Eggs: usually 4, light greenish 

 blue, speckled chiefly around the larger end with brown. 



The clay-colored sparrow is said to be almost e.xclusively terres- 

 trial, though during the nesting season the males sing from the tops 

 of bushes almost continually. The song Coues gives as three notes 

 and a slight trill. Along the Red River in Dakota, he says, they 

 nest in "open low underbrush by the river side and among the 

 innumerable scrub- willow copses of the valley." 



562. Spizella breweri Cas.<i. Brewer Sp.\rrow. 



Adults. — Entire upper parts streaked with black on grayish brown 

 ground ; under parts soiled grayish. In 

 winter, similar but more buffy. Young : 

 like adults, but chest and sides streaked, 

 streaks of upper parts broader and less 

 sharply defined, and wings with two dis- 

 tinct bands. Male : length (skins) 4.74- 

 5.1;;, wing 2.:;T-2..V.t. tail 2.20-2.44. bill .34- 

 .35. Female: length (skins) 4.00-5.19, 

 wing 2.20-2.59, tail 2.2(J-2..*>0. bill .34-30. 



Distribution. — Breeds in Transition zone 

 sagebrush from British Columbia south to 



southern Arizona, and from western Nebraska and western Texas to the 

 Pacific coast ; south in winter along the western border of the Mexican 

 tablelands. 



Nest. — In sagebrush, made of fine grass stems and leaves, lined with 

 long horsehairs. Eggs : u.sually 4, and generally like those of the day- 

 colored sparrow, but more distinctly marked. 



Tlie Brewer sparrow, known locally as the sagebrush chippie, is 

 marked down as an 'arid transition ' species, and, true to his zonal 

 colors, if any arid transition sagebrush strays to the sunny side of a 

 high moimtain ridge lie will appear there with it, though his normal 

 home is in the bottom of a desert. We once found him singing at 

 8400 feet on the snowy crest of the Siena, but on tlic sunny slope 

 below was the inevitable sage. 



