BAIRD'S SPARROW 749 



growth to develop, and the hen Baird's sparrow made an excellent 

 job of hiding her nest in it. 



Spring. — When spring comes to the midwest grasslands and the 

 warming world awakes to the joyous minstrelsy of the swarms of 

 newly returned prau-ie birds, aerial displays usually form an important 

 part of courtship activities. Male praii-ie horned larks, chestnut- 

 collared longspurs, western meadowlarks, bobolinks, and Sprague's 

 pipits all advertise their presence with ecstatic song flights. These 

 aerial rhapsodies begin almost as soon as the birds reach the breeding 

 grounds, and usually last until the nestlings need feeding. But no 

 such courting flights aid those who seek the ground-dwelling sparrows. 

 They who set out, in early May, to learn whether or not Baird's 

 sparrow has returned do not look for the little bird — they listen for him. 

 He may not be there that day, or the next day either, and if any sig- 

 nificant change has taken place in his habitat, he will not be there that 

 May, or that year. 



This is a neat little bird, with a prim little bib of radial lines on its 

 upper breast, buffy patches on its cheek and neck, and an ochraceous 

 stripe running through its crown. But identification is difficult, for 

 none of these marks is clearl}^ definable at any distance. 



Though a few winter in the grasslands of Arizona and New Mexico, 

 and in the counties of El Paso and Midland, Tex., most of these little 

 finches start their spring migi-ation from the Mexican states of Sonora 

 (northern), Durango, and Coahuila. 



The northward movement begins in late February and lasts a 

 httle more than 2 months, Mrs. Harold WiUiams of Midland, 

 Tex., \vTites me that the birds may leave El Paso and Midland coun- 

 ties any time from April 9 to April 28. Richard R. and J. Graber 

 (1954) took a specimen in Oklahoma on Apr. 23, 1953. William 

 Youngworth writes from Sioux City, Iowa, that Kansas, Nebraska, 

 and South Dakota are all in the migration path, and sends me Harold 

 Turner's dates for Nebraska as follows: "Arrival, May 4, 1952; May 

 3, 1953; April 15, 1958; April 12, 1959; May 5, 1960; April 14, 19G2." 

 These dates show that the leading front of the migration wave may 

 vary from year to year by almost a month. 



Few Baird's sparrows are detected in migration because they are 

 so inconspicuous. As with many other species of grass-inhabiting 

 sparrows, they seldom travel in flocks, but usually in small groups, or 

 even as single individuals, and arrive at their summer home without 

 fanfare, unheralded, and often unnoticed. Mrs. Robert Gammell of 

 Kenmare, N. Dak., writes me: "Bh'ds just appear on the breeding 

 grounds," 



A letter from Clifford V. Davis of Bozeman, Mont., gives late 

 April or early May as the average airival time for that state. Orin 



