BAIRD'S SPARROW 751 



ing the territory to the north of the otlior was found to be uttering a curious, soft, 

 complaining whine, "Mecerr, mecerr, ineeerr, nieeerr, meeerr," and so on. It was 

 uttered either when the bird was on a bush, on the ground, or in low flight over 

 the ground. The note was usually accompanied by wing flutterings when the 

 bird was settled and by abnormally fast wing beats when in flight. Neither of 

 these birds was seen on June 20. After three hours' watching on June 27, a 

 female was seen. Pursued by both males, she flew from the territory of the 

 southern male to that of the northern male. Near the boundary of the two she 

 dropped into the grass, followed by both males. The southern male now returned 

 to his own territory, however, while the other one followed the female as she 

 flew into a patch of mLxed wolfberry and silver willow. The female could not be 

 found there. She was seen sometime later, however, again near the boundary 

 of the two territories. Both males came to her and fought for a brief time and then 

 dispersed. 



Nesting. — Between 1873 and 1930 no more than 21 authenticated 

 nests of this species were reported, 2 each from Minnesota and Mon- 

 tana, the rest from North Dakota and Alberta. Another nest was 

 fomid in Alberta in 1931, and between 1930 and 1934 Cartwright, 

 Shortt, and Harris (1937) found 15 nests in Manitoba. All but one 

 of these were in two communities of Baird's sparrows that had settled 

 near the city of Winnipeg, perhaps in 1928. No major changes took 

 place in these habitats during that time, and the bii'ds returned each 

 year to at least one of the areas. 



Environmental disturbances caused by plowing, burning, brushing, 

 or mowing and raking always result in Baird's sparrow quietly 

 abandoning an area. Nor can it prosper on close-cropped pasture- 

 land, and the introduction of grazing animals into a field usually 

 causes the species to desert it. Mrs. Robert Gammell writes me 

 from Kenmare, N. Dak.: "One of our favorite chestnut-collared 

 longspur spots for many years was an over-grazed pasture, an area of 

 about 160 acres west of Kenmare. In 1960 there were no cattle in 

 the field and the grass grew up. Immediately a number of Sprague's 

 pipits and Baird's sparrows joined the longspurs there." 



The impression still lingers that these sparrows prefer to nest in 

 damp areas. Audubon (1844) found them hiding in the long grass 

 of wetlands, and Taverner (1919) believed the absence of the species 

 at Shoal Lake, Manitoba, in 1918-19, was due to "the lowering of the 

 lake level and the disappearance of the broad marshes." The opposite 

 view is expressed by Gale Monson, who writes me: "My impression, 

 based on my experiences m both North Dakota and Arizona, is that the 

 density of bairdii varies markedly from year to year on both the 

 breeding and wintering grounds. In the damper parts of its breeding 

 range, it is probably more plentiful in dry years, while in the drier 

 parts of the range it is more numerous in wet years." 



Monson's findings are supported by W. Ray Salt and A. L. Wilk 

 (1958): "Grassy slough bottoms and alkali flats are favorite haunts 



64G-737— 68— pt. 2 11 



