MONTANE LINCOLN'S SPARROW 1471 



willy willy che quill; Lee lee lee quilly willy, willy, and other such, come with full 

 force and freshness at a hundred yards to the listeners * * *. 



Jewett et al. (1953) thus describe it in Washington: "The song of 

 the Lincoln sparrow, which may be heard in summer on favorable 

 alpine meadows, is rendered with unique and attractive quality, and 

 when first heard greatly piques the curiosity. On attempting to find 

 the bird the concert stops abruptly, and the singer drops into the 

 brush out of sight. * * * As the summer advances the song of the 

 Lincoln loses much of its piquancy and charm, and is less often heard, 

 A chek call note, with something of junco and of warbler quality about 

 it, but different from either, is more in evidence." 



Fall. — Jewett et al. (1953) continue: 



The restlessness so universal with birds in the fall seems to infect the Lincoln 

 with the rest, and migrating individuals are frequently encountered. It is less 

 closely bound at this season by its predilections for meadow and swamp, and we 

 have found it common in September in the flag and tule thickets of the lowlands 

 and the mountain ash brush and dwarfed conifers close to timber line in the moun- 

 tains. It is likely to be encountered, during migration, in almost any brushy or 

 grassy situation not too far from water, although it sedulously avoids the woods. 

 It often attaches itself to roving bands of white-crowned or golden-crowned 

 sparrows or juncos. 



Winter. — Grinnell and Miller (1944) state this race migrates to the 

 the California lowlands in September and winters in the same type of 

 habitat as M. I. lincolnii, which they characterize as: "Low-growing 

 bushes and clumps of annuals interspersed with grass, especially on 

 damp ground or near water. Ditch banks, brushy borders of sloughs, 

 tangles of driftwood, and sedge chimps are typical situations. The 

 birds adhere closely to cover and make the fullest use of its protection 

 when alarmed, only momentarily exposing themselves in flight low 

 over the ground between cover. In foraging they work inconspicuously 

 and solitarily through the grass about the bases of bushes or within 

 brush tangles." 



Distribution 



Range. — Oregon and Montana south to southern Mexico, Guate- 

 mala, and El Salvador. 



Breeding range. — The Montane Lincoln's sparrow breeds in moun- 

 tains from north-central and eastern Oregon (Breitenbush Lake, 

 Wallowa Mountains), central Idaho (Payette Lake), southwestern 

 and south-central Montana (18 miles northwest of Dillon, Shriver), 

 and north-central Wyoming (Big Horn Mountains) south to Cali- 

 fornia (west to the inner northern coast ranges, South Yolla Bolly 

 Mountain; south to the San Jacinto Mountains), west-central Nevada 

 (Galena Creek), southwestern Utah (Cedar Breaks), east-central 

 Arizona (White Mountains), and northern New Mexico (Pecos Baldy). 



