ROCK RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW 919 



Occasionally this sparrow may show signs of some sexual activity 

 in fall. On Oct. 9, 1938 I watched one snuggle down into an old 

 nest in a desert hackberry, but I am not sure that this nest was 

 originally of a rufous-winged rather than a black-throated sparrow. 

 J. T. Marshall, Jr. (MS.) saw one enter a cactus wren's nest in farm- 

 land where it remained for 15 seconds on Nov. 16, 1956. Such 

 actions have not been noticed in winter. 



Distribution 



Range. — Southern Arizona south to central Sinaloa; nonmigratory. 

 The rufous-winged sparrow ranges north to Pinal County, Arizona 

 (Oracle Junction and Oracle) ; east to central southern Arizona (Oracle 

 and Tucson regions, sporadically near Sonoita), eastern Sonora (Rio 

 Bavispe, Santa Rosa, and Guirocoba), and northeastern Sinaloa 

 (Colmoa, Rancho El Padre, Tabald on Rio San Lorenzo) ; south to 

 central Sinaloa (Elota) ; west to the coasts of Sinaloa and Sonora 

 (north to Estero de Tasiota and Rancho Costa Rica, and west of 

 Caborca), and Arizona (western part of Papago Indian Reservation 

 at Menager's Dam and Ventana Ranch). 



The entire species as outlined has been divided into three subspecies, 

 of which only one (A. c. carpalis) enters the United States. 



Egg dates. — Arizona: 25 records, April 20 to September 11. 



Sinaloa: September 11, October 2. 



AIMOPHILA RUFICEPS EREMOECA (Brown) 



Rock Rufous -crowned Sparrow 

 Contributed by Allan R. Phillips 



Habits 



This race inhabiting the southern Great Plains south to north- 

 eastern Mexico differs from scottii of the northwestern Mexican 

 plateau and interior southwestern United States, according to Robert 

 Ridgway (1901), by being "much grayer above and paler below; 

 the back and scapulars smoke gray or olive-gray (sometimes almost 

 ash gray) narrowly streaked with brown, these streaks often inclosing 

 more or less distinct shaft-lines of black or dusky; chin, throat, and 

 abdomen almost white (often quite so in summer plumage)." The 

 slight average differences in size include a stouter bill. There is, 

 however, considerable variation in color within both races. In 

 fact R. B. Sharpe (1888) divided his series from the Santa Catalina 

 Mountains, Ariz., into two subspecies. 



With eremoeca the American Ornithologists' Union includes A. r. 

 ienuirostra Burleigh and Lowery (1939) of extreme western Texas, 



