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



Haplopappus tenuisectus. The young soon start to eat seeds; one 

 female in fii-st prebasic molt as early as June 12, 1958, had chiefly 

 small seeds and gravel in her stomach and only one or two small insects. 

 Food at other seasons presumably consists largely of grass and weed 

 seeds. Henry W. Henshaw (1875) found them in September "hopping 

 about in search of small seeds and insects." C. E. Bendire (1882), 

 possibly referring to the winter food, wrote that it "seems to feed 

 principally on various kinds of small seeds." 



The strangely molting female of June 12, 1958, however, had fed 

 largely on small ants, determined by Floyd G. Werner to be workers 

 of Solenopsis (xyloni?). Her stomach also held some small seeds, 

 a Uttle gravel (and bits of glass?), and one large, blackish mandible 

 which probably came from a grasshopper. 



Behavior. — In its favorite haunts the rufous-winged sparrow is a 

 bird of modest habits and Js easily observed. When disturbed, it 

 flies up into a bush or low tree from which it watches the observer's 

 approach. Only once have I seen it run like a mouse through the 

 grass in the exasperating manner of its relatives, such as A. cassini. 

 On the other hand I have never seen it burst into a flight song as 

 cassini commonly does in summer, though C. E. Bendire (1882) 

 mentions it singing "while hovering a few feet in the air, generally in 

 close proximity to" its nest, in the crowded population of the old 

 riparian habitat. 



On one occasion, early in June 1951, I did see a rufous-winged 

 sparrow several meters above the ground. This bird was singing 

 from a telephone wire by a road that separated homes \vith lawns and 

 citrus and Eucalyptus trees from the desert mesa. At that moment 

 a Harris' hawk was sitting in a tree not far off, and I suspected that 

 the hawk's presence may have accounted for the imusually high 

 perch the rufous-winged sparrow chose. 



For a small bird, the species shows much com'age at nesting time. 

 While I was examining a replacement nest with two fresh eggs, a 

 bird came very near me in the lower part of the same bush and 

 "chipped," with its wings somewhat spread as if trying to drive me 

 away. It is not so approachable at other times, but (like Scott, 1886) 

 I have always found it less shy than others of its genus. Both C. E. 

 Bendire (1882) and H. W. Henshaw (1875) liken it to the black- 

 throated and chipping sparrows in behavior. 



In marginal, overgrazed areas it may be less confiding. Near 

 SeUs, Ariz., in Jime W. L. Dawson (MS.) writes that "the birds 

 themselves are very shy, and [C I.] Clay spent half an hour securing 

 a pair." R. T. Moore (1946) also caUed them "extremely shy" at 

 Fresnal, east of SeUs, but seemingly had no difficulty in collecting 

 specimens. Doubtless the birds tend to retreat farther when they 



