MOUNTAIN WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW 1341 



ber 5 ; one adult and one immature at Willow Meadow and three adults 

 at Cahoon Meadow on October 13. 



For other states we have the following records: Percy M. Silloway 

 (1907) states that the first white-crowned sparrow was heard singing 

 at Flathead Woods, Mont, on June 5, 1906. Elliott Cones (1874) 

 quotes Trippe as saying that this race appears in the lower valleys 

 of Clear Creek County, Colo., the first or second week of May. As 

 the snow disappears, the race ascends the mountain, reaching timber- 

 line by the middle of June. It commences building in July and young 

 are hatched about the 20th of this month. In September it begins 

 to descend; by October it is abundant at Idaho, and by November 

 has disappeared. William L. Slater (1912) states that white-crowns 

 arrive at Colorado Springs the last week of April, gradually move up 

 the mountains, reaching timberline the middle of June. After nest- 

 ing they descend in September and October to lower levels and linger 

 until early in November. The species is common on the western 

 slopes during migration. 



At Mineral, Calif., a few miles from the south entrance to Lassen 

 Volcanic National Park, Ranger Naturalist and Mrs. Merle Stitt 

 (pers. comm.) reported seeing white-crowned sparrows in migration, 

 both in spring and fall. The last date for spring of 1900 was May 

 24, two days after the last snowstorm of the season. On June 25 

 of that same year my husband and I found oriantha males starting 

 to establish territories at King's Creek Meadows inside the Park, 

 (elevation 7,400 feet) but no females had yet arrived. By July 4, 

 Park Superintendent and Mrs. Dixon Freeland reported pairs of 

 white-crowned sparrows common at that location. Where the birds 

 had been between May and July is a mystery, but if they kept a 

 schedule comparable to those described above by Trippe and Slater 

 they probably stayed in the vicinity below the nesting-grounds and 

 moved up as the snow melted and the high country became habitable. 



When we arrived at King's Creek Meadows on June 25, 19G0, we 

 found several male mountain white-crowned sparrows already spaced 

 out, singing frequently but weakly. We saw no females. The males 

 showed about the same level of territorial jealousy as did newly 

 arrived Gambel's sparrow males at College, Alaska. They perched 

 conspicuously, alternating in song with their neighbors, and occasion- 

 ally pursued each other, but we saw no noisy conflicts, such as I have 

 described for the newly arrived Puget Sound sparrows at Friday 

 Harbor. By the next day the volume and frequency of song had 

 increased, but there were still no females. On July 4 other observers 

 (Beatrice Freeland, pers. comm.) found these meadows "alive with 

 song," with white-crowns of both sexes present in numbers. Whether 

 the males arrive ahead of the females in all localities is not certain. 



