1020 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 2 



young the latter part of March, 1915. They were situated in scrubby 

 brush a few inches above the ground." 



Joseph Grinnell (1897c) writes that these sparrows were "quite 

 common on the hillsides and lower mesas where there is a low 

 thorny bush growing in clumps and patches interspersed with cactus." 

 At the time of his visit, from March 28 to April 3, "the males were in 

 full song, and dissection of females showed that eggs in most instances 

 had already been laid. * * * The notes and habits of this bird were 

 substantially the same as those [of A. h. belli] about Pasadena." Full 

 grown juveniles were plentiful there on a later visit from May 28 to 

 June 7. 



Distribution 



The San Clemen te sage sparrow is resident on San Clemen te Island 

 off southern California. 



AMPHISPIZA BELLI GINEREA Townsend 



Gray Sage Sparrow 

 Contributed by Alden H. Miller 



Habits 



The race Amphispiza belli cinerea is the southernmost representative 

 of the sage sparrows. It occupies the midsection of Baja California 

 along the Pacific Coast between 29° and 26° north latitude where it 

 is a common resident of the Lower Sonoran Zone. 



Ridgway (1901) says it is "Similar in size and proportions to 

 A. b. belli, but coloration conspicuously paler; above pale smoke 

 gray or pale ashy gray, the back more decidedly tinged with buffy 

 and obsoletely streaked with darker; lateral throat-stripes narrower, 

 more interrupted, and dull grayish instead of blackish; spot in center 

 of chest smaller and dusky grayish instead of blackish." The colora- 

 tion parallels that of the subspecies canescens but is a more brownish 

 gray and the black markings are paler. The lesser coverts are yel- 

 lowish brown. 



Laurence M. Huey (1930b) in commenting on this form and the 

 intergrades between it and A. b. belli, which he designated as the 

 race xerophilus, reports that cinerea occurs in proximity to the sea. 

 He says that it is "not cactus tolerant and * * * [is] not to be found 

 beyond the range of certain types of coastal Lower Sonoran brush." 

 This consists chiefly of plants "of the genus Lycium, commonly 

 called Frutilla * * *." 



Chester C. Lamb met the gray sage sparrow in late May 1927 

 near the south end of Santa Rosalia Bay. The birds were found in 

 the coastal sand dunes in low brush where ocotiHo, yucca, agave, 



