1206 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 paet 2 



Atlantic coast. Whether the bird is a newcomer to the East, or has 

 always filtered eastward in small numbers in autumn but just has 

 never previously been reported, we shall probably never know. 



Winter. — Early arrivals reach Sonora by September 15 and remain 

 as late as April 30, the latest reported date of spring departure for the 

 North. A. R. Phillips writes me: "Like all Spizellas they go in flocks 

 during the winter. The habitat in Mexico is open weedy country or 

 the main highlands, not the wooded coast lowlands. The species 

 occurs west almost to the coast, as far as there are open valleys. 

 I find it in weedy fields, stands of sunflower, and in just plain, weedy, 

 brushy hiUsides." In the neighborhood of El Paso, Texas, according 

 to a letter from Mrs. Lena McBee in 1959, clay-colored sparrows 

 consort through the winter with Gambel's and Brewer's sparrows in 

 stands of mesquite and tornillo on the desert, or feed in clumps of 

 tumbleweed and wild grasses along the levees of the Rio Grande or 

 along the numerous irrigation ditches that thread the area. 



Distribution 



Range. — Northeastern British Columbia, southern Mackenzie, cen- 

 tral Manitoba, and northern Michigan south, mainly east of the 

 Rockies, to southern Mexico and Guatemala, and in small numbers 

 to the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. 



Breeding range. — The clay-colored sparrow breeds from northeastern 

 British Columbia (Minaker River, Charlie Lake), central southern 

 Mackenzie (Hay River, Fort Resolution), central Saskatchewan 

 (Flotten and Emma lakes), central Manitoba (The Pas, Hillside 

 Beach), western Ontario (Kenora, Port Arthur), and northern Michi- 

 gan (L'Anse, McMiUan) south to southwestern Alberta (Waterton 

 Parks), south central Montana (Huntley), southeastern Wyoming 

 (Laramie), southeastern Colorado (Pueblo), southern Nebraska (Red 

 Cloud, Belvidere), northern Iowa (Sioux City; Jackson County), 

 southern Wisconsin (Baraboo, Madison, Racine), central Michigan 

 (Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco and St. Clair counties), and southern 

 Ontario (Grey County, Trafalgar); sparsely west to central British 

 Columbia (Bulkley Lake, Okanagan Landing); taken in the breeding 

 season in Illinois (Urbana) and Indiana (Dune Park). 



Winter range. — Winters from southern Baja California (La Paz), 

 northern Sonora (Bacoachi), northern Durango (Rosario), southern 

 Coahuila (SaltiUo), central Nuevo Le6n (Monterrey), and southern 

 Texas (Laredo, Falfurrias) south to Guerrero (Chilpancingo) and 

 Oaxaca (Mitla), casually north to Massachusetts (Amherst) and 

 south to southwestern Guatemala; in migration recorded east to 

 Quebec (Metis), Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, 

 New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 



