DESERT BLACK-THROATED SPARROW 995 



In 1965 the spring was about a month later than usual, and the first 

 young had left the nest by early June. "We did not find any late 

 nests that would indicate a second brood, but begging young were 

 stUl being fed by adults as late as early August, so either the nesting 

 season is extended well into the hot months of the year, or else fledg- 

 lings are attended to for some weeks after they leave the nest." 



At the southern limit of the range of this form in central Baja 

 California, GrifTmg Bancroft (1930) reports finding nests in the latter 

 part of May. In the vicinity of Punta Eugenia, in western Baja 

 California, and on nearby Cedros and Natividad islands, both A. J. 

 van Rossem (1945b) and R. C. Banks (1964a) found that nesting 

 took place as early as February. This part of the range of this sub- 

 species differs from the rest of its range in that it is subject to heavy 

 fogs in the winter, and possibly the earlier nesting here reflects the 

 relative abundance of moisture. 



Nests are usually well concealed, not far above the ground in small 

 bushes. Florence M. Bailey (1928) records nesting sites for New 

 Mexico as being "in catsclaw, yucca, cactus, sagebrush, creosote, 

 other bushes, mesquite, and low junipers." Herbert Brandt (1951) 

 reports finding a nest "situated 18 inches up in a well concealed 

 position near center of a dense blackbrush" in Cochise County, Ari- 

 zona. In southern California, J. Grinnell and H. S. Swarth (1913) 

 found a nest near the brink of Deep Canyon: "It was in a little 

 gully, about a quarter of a mile from water, and placed in a clump 

 of Dalea johnsonii, about one foot from the ground. It was loosely 

 fastened among the forking branches, being held in place more by 

 the general thorniness of the shrub than by any evident forethought 

 in its construction. 



D. H. Johnson, M. D. Bryant, and A. H. Miller (1948) report 

 several nests found in the Providence Mountains of California be- 

 tween May 13 and 24. One of these "was near the center of a small, 

 dense, cholla cactus that grew among bushes in a side wash. * * * 

 The needle-sharp thorns of the cactus surrounded the nest so closely 

 that the parent seemed to have difficulty in avoiding them. Each 

 time it approached or left, the bird paused to snip off the tips of some 

 of the thorns. When disturbed only enough to cause it to stand 

 on the edge of the nest, it had difficulty in turning around to sit 

 on the eggs again." 



Another nest the above authors described in a Purshia bush "had 

 a diameter of about 110 mm.; height to rim about 60 mm.; nest 

 cavity 50 mm. in diameter and 40 mm. deep. The outer framework 

 \\as principally of stiff, dry bundles of dead Joshua tree leaf fibers, 

 with a few grass and weed stems woven in. The lining was of softer 

 material, including individual Joshua tree leaf fibers, cowhairs, and 



