1546 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 3 



northwestern California (Del Norte, Humboldt, and western Mendo- 

 cino counties, south to Gualala). 



Casual record. — Casual in Marin County, California (Olema). 



MELOSPIZA MELODIA GOULDII Baird 



Marin Song Sparrow 

 Contributed by Val Nolan Jr. 



Habits 



Except in the marshes around San Francisco Bay, the song sparrow 

 of the long coastal district of central California is this resident race. 

 Here it inhabits fresh water marshes, fog-drenched brush on west- 

 ward-facing slopes down to the shore or to the edges of salt marshes, 

 streamside growth such as willow clumps and shrubby weedy tangles, 

 and garden shrubbery. As Grinnell and Miller (1944) observe, "An 

 essential combination of dense, tangled vegetation, and moist ground 

 or surface water is provided by each of these types of habitat." 

 Toward the interior the birds are limited to streamsides and fresh- 

 water marshes, but near the coast the fogs, seepage, and damp ground 

 provide enough moisture to free them of such restrictions. 



Nests are built "on the ground or in bushes a few feet up" (Ray, 

 1908). Richard F. Johnston, in his study of the breeding seasons and 

 clutch sizes of western song sparrows (1954), indicates that the season 

 extends from about February 25 to about June 25 in south central 

 California and from about March 25 to about July 5 in the northern 

 part of the range; the peaks of breeding are in mid- April in both sec- 

 tions with a second, greater, peak in the first half of May in the north. 

 Mean clutch sizes in the sets Johnston examined were 3.71 and 3.53 

 in the south and the north, respectively; first clutches were somewhat 

 smaller and second clutches larger than the means. 



Grinnell and Miller (1944) say that cover "is often hunted through 

 in almost wren-like fashion; crevices, holes and branch tangles are 

 entered and inspected for insect food." H. C. Bryant (1921) stated at 

 Berkeley, "The worst egg eater yet discovered in my aviary is a Santa 

 Cruz Song Sparrow [now M. m. gouldii]." 



"In fall and winter some scattering to drier situations is noted, 

 especially to thickets of dead grass and annuals in fairly open fields" 

 (Grinnell and Miller, 1944). 



Grinnell (1909) describes gouldii as: "Similar to M. m. cleonensis, 

 but less rufescent, the black element much stronger on feathers of 

 back, scapulars, and exposed quills, that of pileum taking form of 

 streaks alternating with browns; the streaking of underparts also 



