886 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 2 



Casual records. — Casual east to southern Utah (St. George, Henry 

 Mountains). 



CHONDESTES GRAMMACUS (Say) 



Lark Sparrow* 



PLATE 50 



Contributed by Donald Henry Baepler 

 Habits 



The lark sparrow is easily recognized in the field. Its white outer 

 tail markings, its white underparts with dark spots on the breast, the 

 bold chestnut and black markings of its head, its habits of walking, 

 of singing in flight, and of drooping its wings and spreading its tail 

 during courtship, make it a distinctive bird. Alexander Sprunt, Jr. 

 (1954) writes: "Seen from the front, back, or side it is a very attractive 

 bird, and even where it is ver}'- abundant, as in central Texas, one 

 never tires of its sprightly appearance and animated ways." 



The bird is at home in parklike areas, in abandoned fields, in brush- 

 lined pasture lands, and in completely treeless plains. It does not 

 fear man and in the heart of its range nests abundantly near farm- 

 houses, in city parks, and on the edges of towns. In the eastern and 

 northern parts of its range where it is not common, it prefers open 

 areas where bare ground or short grass is much in evidence. In 

 southeastern Michigan where scattered pairs nest irregularly, its 

 habitat is characterized by poorness of soil, by a scattering of sapUngs, 

 and by such ground-hugging vegetation as thin grasses, foUose Uchens, 

 and by earthstar fungi {Geaster spp.). 



The lark sparrow is widely distributed tliroughout the United States 

 and its range extends into southern Canada. It is, however, typically 

 a bird of the west and it is in parts of the southwest that it is truly 

 common as a nesting bird. Two races are recognized; the eastern and 

 nominate subspecies breeds as far west as central Minnesota, eastern 

 Kansas, and northeastern Texas; west of these points the western 

 race, C. g. strigatus Swainson, occurs. In the western race the chestnut 

 head markings and the upperparts in general are paler and the back 

 streaking is narrower. The races are much alike in color and, so far 

 as I can determine, they are identical in behavior. L. Nelson Nichols 

 (1936) states: "There is * * * no practical difference in the habits, 

 song, and beauty of eastern and western birds." 



Much of the following account is based on studies I made of the 

 lark sparrow at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station at 



*The following subspecies are discussed in this section: Chondcstes grammacus 

 grammacus (Say), and C. g. strigatus Swainson. 



