BELL'S SAGE SPARROW 1017 



alleyways, along which the sparrows were seen to run. Pairs averaged 

 about 50 yards apart, from the center of one territory to the next. 

 When excited or disturbed, two or three pairs would come in sight at 

 once but they could always be distinguished as pairs. Some pairs 

 obviously had active nests, but others had young out of the nest. 



Nesting. — C. S. Sharp (1906) found a nest with eggs in a wild rose 

 patch in an opening in a willow grove near Escondido, Calif. This is 

 a very unusual situation and habitat. In this same area, James B. 

 DLxon writes me of sage sparrows occupying comparatively dry, low 

 brush cover. He says that at times the brush is sparse with rocks 

 intermixed. He found a nest in rather dense brush, waist high, on a 

 south-facing hillside about 600 feet above sea level near Lake Hodges, 

 San Diego County, on May 19. The nest was carefully concealed and 

 was discovered only by watching the female from a distance. This 

 nest, in the forks of a heavy bush at practically ground level, was well 

 made of weed stalks and inwardly Uned with fine weed stems and soft 

 weed fibers. Both adults "made quite a fuss and would come to 

 within eight feet of us." 



Another nest that Dixon found near Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo 

 County, and which I judge belongs to this race, was placed low in a 

 scrubby bush in a dry wash. It was composed entirely of grayish weed 

 fibers, outwardly coarse and inwardly fine. It held three slightly incu- 

 bated eggs on April 12. Nests of this race that have been reported 

 were all above ground at heights from 6 to 24 inches. Nest materials 

 are generally similar to those used by other sage sparrows, but wool or 

 fine hair occurs less consistently in the lining. I have seen several 

 nests in which seed heads of plants alone constituted the soft lining 

 layer. 



Nests with eggs are to be found chiefly in April and May. George 

 Willett (1912) gives earhest and latest dates for fresh or slightly in- 

 cubated eggs in southern California as April 6 and June 25. Addi- 

 tionally we have records of eight nests with eggs from April 10 to May 

 19, and in Tehama County, near Beegum, on June 12, 1 took a female 

 that was laying, but the set she was producing may have been a re- 

 placement nest; I could not be certain that it was a true second nesting 

 although there were grown young in the vicinity that may have been 

 hers. 



Eggs. — Clutches of Bell's sage sparrow usually consist of four eggs. 

 We have records of seven such sets. Two sets of three are reported 

 but one of these at least was fresh and may have been incomplete. 

 James B. Dixon in reporting the nest near Lake Hodges, San Diego 

 County, commented on the unusually large clutch of five eggs that it 

 held. 



