1000 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 paet 2 



it further inland to the north until at San Quintin I very seldom saw 

 it within ten miles of the beach." 



Winter. — The black- throated sparrow is only partly migratory; 

 many birds are found in the southern part of the breeding range 

 throughout the winter. In California they leave the regions north of 

 the Mohave Desert and are presumed to be partly migratory else- 

 where, as the populations in the southern part of the state are smaller 

 and less widely dispersed in winter than in summer (Grinnell and 

 Miller, 1944). The species has been observed in southern Nevada 

 in every month except January, and is (GulHon, PuHch, and Evenden, 

 1959) "absent from Nevada's deserts for not over two months in 

 midwinter, if that long." In Arizona the species "remains through 

 the winter in some of the warmer southern vaUeys" (Swarth, 1914b), 

 and in New Mexico "a few winter on the cactus-covered plains" 

 (Hunn, 1906). 



In reference to winter activities in California, D. H. Johnson, 

 M. D. Bryant and A. H. Miller (1948) state that "At that season 

 they were frequently in mixed flocks with Brewer sparrows, and 

 tended to stay more in canyons and about the bases of rimrock cliffs. 

 A flock of eight watched near Mitchell's on December 26, 1937, was 

 foraging in the rain. They were very active, hopping about and 

 apparently picking up seeds from the bare ground beneath bushes." 

 In the Organ Pipe National Monument in Ai'izona, Laurence Huey 

 (1942) reports that "During winter there was a great influx from the 

 north, which bunched up with Brewer and Chipping Sparrows and 

 wandered over the flats in large flocks." Mrs. Bailey (1923) men- 

 tions for the Santa Rita Mountains of Arizona that in winter the 

 black-throated sparrow is mainly in smaU flocks, often with cactus 

 wrens, verdins, or white-crowned sparrows. 



Michael Smyth and George A. Bartholomew (1966) note that in the 

 southern Cahfornia deserts: "From June to September the sparrows 

 move about in pairs or small groups of up to five or six. Later larger 

 flocks of up to a dozen or more birds are not uncommon, and black- 

 throated sparrows often keep company with sage and white-crowned 

 sparrows." 



GrinneU (1904) found the birds common in mid-winter at Palm 

 Springs, Cahfornia, "occurring in scattering flocks of from six to 

 twenty or more. These companies were usuaUy in motion and hard 

 to follow, as the birds had a way of flying off one at a time in rapid 

 succession, retreating over a hill or behind thickets; so that the whole 

 flock seemed to vanish." 



