948 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 2 



of twigs around the exposed edges was so interwoven with the surrounding bush 

 that if was hard to tell exactly where the nest began. 



He also reports other nests near San Diego, one of them made entu-ely 

 of grass. 



Generalizing for various nests near San Diego, Harry L. Heaton 

 (1928) writes that an area "medium to sparsely covered [with shrubs] 

 is usually selected although one nest was discovered in rather thick 

 sagebrush three feet in height. The nest, always on the ground, is 

 exceedingly well concealed and made of slender stems, grass, and 

 rootlets with a lining of hair. * * * One nest was in an old, rusty tin 

 can, the extended top of which lent additional protection. There was 

 so little room left in the can that we wondered how the bii'd managed 

 her tail so as to feel comfortable while sitting." 



Apparently the only detailed watching of a relatively undisturbed 

 nesting of this race was begun on April 10 hj Harriet W. Myers 

 (1909) on an uncultivated hill "just outside the Los Angeles city 

 limits, overlooking the Arroyo Seco, and * * * overgrown with the 

 usual vegetation — clumps of sage brush, wild oats, clover, grasses, and 

 many varieties of wild flowers. The nest was placed directly on the 

 ground under a clump of grass over which white convolvulus was 

 twining; owl clover, brodiaeas, and lupines were blooming in the same 

 cliuiip. The nest itself resembled in shape and size the Song Sparrow's 

 nest, being made of brown grasses, lined with finer fibers and a few 

 horse hairs." Other details of this nesting are given in subsequent 

 sections. 



As to nesting season, George Willett (1933) cites records of 15 

 southwestern California nests with eggs that range in date from 

 March 11 to June 2, and L. Percy Williams (1897) mentions a nest 

 ^^dth fresh eggs taken in the middle of June. The March 11 nest, 

 originally reported by Sharp (1907) near Escondido, seems truly 

 exceptional for it must have been begun in late February. In my 

 San Gabriel Mountain studies, none of which was particularly di- 

 rected toward this species, I noted rufous-crowns carrying nest ma- 

 terial Mar. 2, 1940, almost as early as Sharp's Escondido nest was 

 built. In the coastal sage scrub near San Dimas I also found one 

 nest with four eggs May 5, 1950, located near a ridge top at the east 

 edge of a territory that encompassed an eroding south-facing draw. 

 The actual site and nest were much like those cited by earlier authors. 

 By May 16 this nest was empty and abandoned. On June 1 the 

 following year a bird was noted leaving a nest under construction on a 

 lower, gentler slope at the opposite side of a larger territory that 

 included the same draw. Unfortunately this was my last visit to the 

 area that season and the progress on the nest was not followed up. 



Despite the great span of some 15 weeks between the earhest and 



