1190 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 2 



attacker dashing at him in a more aggressive manner than he returned. Finally, 

 male one returned to his own boundary, male two leaving him. 



Gary C. Kuyava writes me from Duluth, Minn,, that on May 25, 

 1959, birds had begun to stake out territories. He says: "One bird 

 flew continually between two bushes about 100 feet apart." He also 

 describes defense of territory: "Saw a pair of males fly along and sud- 

 denly dart at each other in a struggle. When they hit the ground, 

 they were still pecking at each other. The struggle lasted about 2 

 minutes, after which both birds flew off in opposite directions." 



Courtship. — EUiott Coues (1874) states that in South Dakota the 

 pahing season is in the latter part of May, and throughout its short 

 duration males continually chase the females about in bushes. John 

 Lane, of Brandon, Manitoba, at my request studied clay-colored 

 sparrows in 1960. On May 8 he saw a male interrupt his singing to 

 make a short flight over an adjacent field. Returning, he made a 

 swooping dive at his mate, who sat quietly on a low perch aU the 

 while; then he resumed singing on his perch. On May 25, 1960, Lane 

 watched a mated pair as they silently flitted from bush to bush and 

 frequently to the ground, apparently seeking a suitable nesting site. 

 On two occasions the pair ahghted on the same branch and hghtly 

 touched bills. On May 24, 1962, Lane watched courtship activities 

 involving three birds. A female sat motionless in a low red willow. 

 Two other birds, apparently males, sat and eyed each other; then one 

 dived at the other, which shifted to another branch. The first male 

 repeated the dive and made contact with the second bird, which again 

 moved a short distance. FinaUy the first male and the female flew 

 to the ground. The second male made no move to follow, and in a 

 few minutes flew away. 



L. H. Walkinshaw (1944a) comments on a male observed by Mr. and 

 Mrs. N. T. Peterson in Calhoun County, Mich., in 1943. The bird, 

 lacking a mate, was apparently trying to court female field sparrows. 

 The clay-colored sparrow was on a shrub-covered field and continuaUy 

 tried to drive nearby male field sparrows from his vicinity, but the 

 latter paid him little attention. 



Nesting. — For nesting, the clay-colored sparrow generally seeks dry 

 uncultivated shrubby land such as pastiu'elands, parklands, hillsides, 

 edges of fields, roads, swamps, woodlands, and poplar-A\T.Uow bluffs, 

 burned over areas, forest openings, and plots overgrouTi with weeds. 

 In the Canadian prairie provinces, both on dry ground and in buffalo 

 wallows, the bird favors areas of low western snowberry and wolf 

 willow (silver berry), in North Dakota "areas covered with sumac" 

 (Lincoln, 1925), and near Edmonton, Alberta, land supporting rose- 

 bush, snowberry, and willow-aspen bush (Salt, 1966). 



The nest is cup-shaped and generally supported and hidden weU. 



