990 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 paut 2 



Distribution 



Range. — Arizona, Colorado and Kansas to central Mexico. 



Breeding range. — The Cassin's sparrow breeds from southeastern 

 Arizona (Santa Catalina Mountains), southwestern New Mexico 

 (Apache, Deming), central Colorado (Barr Lake), central western 

 Kansas (Wallace, Hays), central Oklahoma (Norman), and central and 

 western Texas (Gainesville) south to northern Chihuahua (45 miles 

 south of Villa Ahumada), southern Coahuila (10 miles east of Saltillo), 

 and northern Tamaulipas (Matamoros). 



Winter range. — Winters from southeastern Arizona (Tucson, Chiri- 

 cahua Mountains) and western and south central Texas (Frijole, San 

 Antonio) south to southern Sinaloa (Rosario) , Guanajuato (Irapuato) , 

 and central Nuevo Le6n (Linares). 



Casual records. — Casual in southwestern Arizona (Cabeza Prieta 

 Game Range) , southern Nevada (Timpahute Valley) and northeastern 

 Texas (Dallas). 



Accidental in New Jersey (Island Beach). 



Migration. — Early dates of spring arrival are: Texas — Eockport, 

 February 24; Midland, April 5. New Mexico — Clayton, May 27. 

 Nevada — Lincoln County, May 26. 



Late date of spring departure is: Texas — Lower Rio Grande Valley, 

 April 20. 



Early date of fall arrival is: Arizona — Camp Verde, July 2L 



Late dates of fall departure are: Oklahoma — Kenton, September 2. 

 Texas — Rockport, October 4. 



Egg dates. — Colorado: 1 record, July 14. 



New Mexico: 1 record, July 3. 



Texas: 85 records, April 12 to July 23; 44 records, May 2 to May 29. 



AMPHISPIZA BILINEATA BILINEATA (Cassin) 



Texas Black-throated Sparrow 



PLATE 54 

 Contributed by Richard C. Banks 



Habits 



This is a common bird in the open country of central and southern 

 Texas. A summer resident in the northern part of its breeding range, 

 it is a permanent resident in southern Texas and the Mexican part of 

 its range. 



Referring to an area some 200 miles west of Dallas, V. P. Mc- 

 Laughlin (1948) says: "This secretive bird arrived unheralded, and it 

 did not sing until May 3, when it was first seen. No nests were ever 

 found, although the birds were locally common all summer until 



