CLAY-COLORED SPARROW 1187 



the earnest minor key of the Savannah sparrow, the exquisite lays of 

 the vesper sparrow, the distant tinkling of the Baird's sparrow, above 

 the Spragiie's pipit's wild trillings cascading earthward in a silvery 

 torrent — these are the sweet melodies that Ernest Thompson Seton 

 called the "prairie bells." 



As one nears a snowberry patch, he hears yet another song, a 

 persistently repeated, high-pitched "zee, zee, zee''* with a dreamy, 

 almost soporific timbre, the territorial song of the clay-colored 

 sparrow. The sound is pleasing, but scarcely comparable in musical 

 quality to the rhapsodies that accompany it, just as he who sings it 

 is pleasant without being spectacular. The clay-color is a trim little 

 fellow, neat of fonn, clothed mostly in shades of brown and gray, with 

 clay-colored trimmings and a three-cornered ear patch of darker 

 brown. A gray and buffy streaked crown helps to distinguish him 

 from his city cousin, the chipping sparrow. 



The clay-colored sparrow is one of the common field sparrows in 

 our midwestern plains. It also occurs in the mountain valleys of 

 Alberta and British Columbia. Widmann (1911) reported it breeding 

 at Estes Park, Colo., at an altitude of 7,500 feet in 1910. S. 'pallida 

 is not generally as companionable or famihar with humans as its 

 congener, the chipping sparrow. It seeks the wild prairies rather 

 than the protective warmth of human habitation. By no means a 

 soHtary, timid, or unfriendly bird by nature, it tends to avoid humans 

 during nesting season because it requires a brushy type of habitat 

 not ordinarily found in centers of population. Rarely the clay-color 

 nests in pubhc parks, vacant lots, and yards, and catches insects in 

 neighboring gardens. During fall migration it sometimes comes to 

 lawns, bird baths, and sprinklers. 



On migration S. 'pallida travels in flocks with its congeneric rela- 

 tives, the chipping and Brewer's sparrows, and associates freely with 

 a \\-ide variety of other birds. On its breeding territory it lives in 

 close harmony and friendly association with a large number of avian 

 species. Observers have seen clay-colored sparrows pay little atten- 

 tion to indigo buntings, redwinged blackbirds, and eastern kingbirds 

 that shared their perches. 



The first specimen of the clay-colored sparrow (sex undetermined) 

 was collected by one of the two daring English explorers. Dr. John 

 Richardson and Thomas Drummond, at Carlton House (burned in 

 1885) on the North Saskatchewan River, in what is now the province 

 of Saskatchewan, on May 14, 1827 (Houston and Street, 1959). Dr. 

 Richardson was a surgeon and naturahst, and the second-in-command ; 

 and Thomas Drummond was assistant naturalist and botanist on the 

 second of Sir John Frankhn's three hazardous and tragic Arctic Land 

 Exploring Expeditions. The clay-colored sparrow specimen and 



64e-737— 68— pt 2 39 



