SAN CLEMENTE SAGE SPARROW 1019 



then changing to another. Between song periods he would disappear, 

 presumably to forage, within the mantle of brush * * *." 



Winter. — Bell's sage sparrow is nonmigratory and remains on the 

 breeding grounds in winter and in the same habitat, usually foregoing 

 even local movements. Thus hi winter near Beegimi in Tehama 

 County at the northern end of its range, I found sage sparrows on 

 February 7 in the same brush patch in which they had nested; they 

 seemingly were paired. Once I heard one give a subsong. 



Hill and Wiggins (1948) state that at lat. 30°2r N. in Baja Califor- 

 nia "Bell Sparrows" were singing vigorously on October 22. 



One notable exception to permanent residency is recorded by 

 Miller and Stebbins (1964) who found A. b. belli ranging eastward 

 at least 25 miles from breeding areas in the San Bernardino Moun- 

 tains, and occurring on August 24 at Lower Covington Flat and at 

 Black Rock Spring on September 3 and 4, both locations in the 

 Joshua Tree National Monument in high desert brushlands. 



Distribution 



Bell's sage sparrow is resident in the coastal ranges of California 

 (Hayfork and French Gulch southward ; extends to coast from Marin 

 County southward), on the w^estern slope of the central Sierra Nevada 

 of California (Eldorado County to Mariposa County), and in north- 

 western Baja California (south to lat. 29°30' N.; Santa Catarina Land- 

 ing, intergrades with A. b. cinerea). Occm-s casually east of the 

 southern California mountains in Joshua Tree National Monument. 



AMPHISPIZA BELLI CLEMENTEAE Ridgway 



San Clemente Sage Sparrow 

 Contributed by Alden H. Miller 



Habits 



This is a weakly differentiated race of sage sparrow, characterized 

 in comparison with Amphispiza belli belli by "longer bill and lighter 

 Juvenal plumage" (Grinnell and Miller, 1944); in fresh plumage the 

 adults possibly are lighter also (van Rossem, 1932b). 



The race clementeae is known only from San Clemente Island off 

 the coast of southern California. The earlier record for sage sparrow^s 

 for Santa Rosa Island has been thrown in doubt (Miller, 1951b) and 

 there has been no recent confirmation of the occurrence of the species 

 on San Nicolas Island and never any indication of the presence of the 

 race clementeae there. 



On San Clemente Island, A. B. Howell (1917) reports that this sage 

 sparrow "is common on the mesa lands back from the shore" and he 

 and Laurence M. Huey "found several nests with pipped eggs and 



