1006 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 2 



the Reno area of Nevada. They probably are resident generally in the 

 southern parts of the breeding range, as in southwestern Utah. 

 Nevertheless, there is a distinct influx of birds in spring to the nesting 

 grounds. 



Spring migratory movements are early. Stanley Jewett et al. (1953) 

 comment on the early arrival of this sparrow in eastern Washington 

 and state that nesting begins by late March; they note the presence 

 of sage sparrows within the breeding range by February 28 and 

 March 2 in different years. Gabrielson and Jewett (1940) state that 

 sage sparrows arrive in March in eastern Oregon. Ross Hardy (1947) 

 found them abundant in spring migration at Price, Utah, from 

 March 17 until April 7. 



Settlement on breeding territories obviously is later at high eleva- 

 tions than in the lower desert valleys. In some places the higher 

 elevations apparently are not reached until April and early May. 



Nesting. — In keeping with the sage sparrow's adherence to low 

 bush cover, nests are usually concealed in Artemisia, shrubs. Some 

 are placed in a depression on the ground as Robert Ridgway (1877) 

 reported, but this is a less usual although not rare situation. Most 

 nests are 6 to 18 inches above the ground as Walter P. Taylor (1912) 

 reported for Humboldt County, Nev. Data on eight other nests 

 in the records of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology reveal only one 

 other ground nest; the heights above ground of the others range from 

 3 to 40 inches (average 16^)- All but one (in an Atri'plexhMsh) were 

 placed in or under Artemisia. 



Gabrielson and Jewett (1940) state for Oregon that "dates on 

 which nests containing fresh eggs have been found vary from April 

 5 to May 23, depending somewhat on the elevation. The earliest 

 dates are for the sage areas along the Columbia River near Boardman, 

 and the later nests are found on the high sage plateaus of the south- 

 eastern part of the State." But a nest with five young found near 

 Boardman on March 29, following a mild winter, must represent eggs 

 laid no later than mid-March. Jewett et al. (1953) report that in 

 Washington many nests of this species have eggs by late March. 

 Near PrineviUe, Oreg., I found a nest with three fresh eggs on June 19, 

 a set completed to four eggs on or before June 21. This probably 

 represented a replacement nest as other sage sparrows in the vicinity 

 had fledged young at that time. 



On the other hand what apparently are first layings occur in the 

 higher sagebrush areas in parts of Nevada in early June, as attested 

 to by data from Stewart, Ormsby County, 4,600 feet altitude, obtained 

 by Milton S. Ray and by reports (Taylor, 1912) of nests and eggs as 

 late as June 16 at Big Creek, 6,000 feet altitude, at the base of the Pine 

 Forest Mountains in Humboldt County. A very late nest, doubtless 



