NORTHERN SAGE SPARROW 1011 



related to this as they seem to occur in many running and hopping 

 animals. 



Voice. — The song is a rather weak, high-pitched tinkling series of 

 notes. Hoffman (1927) suggests the syllables tsit isit, tsi you, tee a- 

 tee, the third note being high and accentuated. The flocking or con- 

 tact note is similar to that of the flocking note of juncos, but is weaker. 

 The alarm note tsip is only slightly louder. I do not know of other 

 vocahzations that occur with any regularity, but Linsdale (1938) men- 

 tions once hearing a long series of harsh notes, the meaning of which 

 is uncertain. 



Field marks. — Sage sparrows are identified by the dark narrow 

 moustache marks and small black spot in the center of the breast, as 

 well as by the white frontal spot and eye ring, coupled with the gray 

 back and contrasting black tail. The tail flipping and its elevated po- 

 sition while on the ground are also good field characteristics and 

 immediately distinguish the bird from the larger lark sparrow which 

 has large white tail spots, though it shows a somewhat similar black 

 breast spot. 



Enemies and parasites. — Richard M. Bond (1940) recorded the re- 

 mains of a sage sparrow in the pellet of a horned owl in Nevada. 



R. O. Malcomson (1960) in a study of maUophaga mentions Bruelia 

 lautiuscula as a parasite of the sage sparrow. 



Henry J. Rust (1917) discovered and photographed a nest in Idaho 

 that contained one egg of the sage sparrow and two of the brown- 

 headed cowbu'd; this was on July 7. H. Friedmann (1963) comments 

 that as this is the only record in his files, the sage sparrow is a "very 

 uncommon victim" of the cowbu"d. 



Fall and winter. — Sage sparrows congregate in late summer in loose 

 flocks immediately after nesting and while they are carrying on the 

 postnuptial or annual molt. The flocks wander in the faU and of 

 course, as indicated earlier, not all of them migrate outside the breeding 

 range. However, this race appears in late September and October 

 on the more southerly wintering grounds. Harry S. Swarth (1924b) 

 found them first arriving on September 25 in the San Francisco Moun- 

 tain area of Arizona. "Ten days later a few more appeared and by 

 October 17 they were present in fair abundance. At the end of the 

 month * * * [they] had disappeared again," possibly driven to lower 

 levels by a storm. In Joshua Tree National Monument of south- 

 eastern California, Miller and Stebbins (1964) report that clear cut 

 examples of this race were taken no earlier than October 22 and 

 November 1. A. J. van Rossem (1911) found the species wintering 

 abundantly in the Salton Sea area of California from December 1 to 

 January 14, represented by both this race and canescens. In the low- 

 lands of southern Nevada, near the breeding range, winter flocks are 



