1556 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 3 



R. F. Johnston (1954) has reported that the breeding season begins 

 about Feb. 5 and lasts until about July 5, with the great majority 

 of nesting records falling between late March and early June, the 

 peak about May 1. First clutches averaged 3.74 eggs, second clutches 

 3.58; the seasonal mean was 3.69 eggs. The interval between com- 

 pletion of the first nest and the laying of the first egg has been reported 

 for one nest as about 5 days (Lamb, 1922). W. C. Hanna (1924) 

 weighed 48 eggs; the extremes were 2.87 and 2.05 grams, the average 

 2.41 grams. 



A number of diverse but interesting points have been recorded 

 about cooperi. Josephine R. Michener (1926) describes her efforts 

 to raise a young bird unable to fly. Among details of its behavior 

 is the fact that its response to the first standing water it saw was to 

 hop into the dish and bathe, at an age inferred to be about 20 days. 

 E. L. Sumner, Jr. and J. L. Cobb (1928) in the fall and winter of 1927 

 displaced 25 banded birds about 4 miles and recaptured 3 at the 

 original trapping stations within a few days; 8 birds were released 

 34 miles west of the point of capture, to which none was known to 

 have returned. More interestingly, 2 were still present at the point 

 of release 7 days later. 



J. Mailliard (1919a) observed that a bird that habitually flew 

 against a window pane on cool mornings was in fact gathering sluggish 

 house flies apparently attracted by the warmth of the glass on the 

 preceding evenings. R. S. Woods (1932) saw song sparrows of this 

 race drinking sugar solution put out for hummingbirds. W. L. 

 Dawson (1923) picked three ticks from the head of a cooperi song 

 sparrow in April 1917, but gives no further details. 



Ridgway (1901) describes cooperi as being similar to heermanni 

 "but slightly smaller and coloration much lighter and grayer; pre- 

 vailing color of the back, etc., grayish olive, the back broadly streaked 

 with black, the black streaks with little, if any, rusty external suffu- 

 sion; young similar to that of M. m. montana." 



Distribution 



Range. — The San Diego song sparrow is resident in the coastal 

 districts of southern California from Santa Cruz County (Santa Cruz) 

 southward to northern Baja California, as far as lat. 30° N. (San 

 Fernando) ; east to streams penetrating Mohave and Colorado deserts 

 (Manix, Palm Canyon, Vallecitos, east base of Sierra San Pedro 

 Martir). 



