ARIZONA BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW 1241 



Egg dates. — Miquihuana, Tamaulipas, Mexico: 27 records, June 4 

 to July 15; 15 records, June 15 to June 30. 



SPIZELLA ATROGULARIS EVURA Coues 



Arizona Black -chiiined Sparrow 



Contributed by John D. Newman 



Habits 



In 1851, while on an expedition in Mexico, J. Cabanis discovered 

 this species and named it Spinites atrogularis. Although the type 

 locality is not precisely knouTi, van Rossern (1935b), who examined 

 the type specimen at the University Museum in Berhn, believes it is 

 likely that this specimen was collected near Mexico City. Baird 

 (1860) mentions a specimen taken in Coahuila, Mexico in 1853 by 

 D. N. Couch. The first specunens for the United States appear to be 

 those taken by Coues (186Gb) at Fort Whipple, Ariz., which he 

 designated as Spizella evura. By 1898, the species was know^n to be 

 common along the southern border of the United States from the 

 Lower Rio Grande Valley to southern California, and its nest and 

 eggs were described in the Hterature (Davie, 1898). In 1913, Grinnell 

 and Swarth pubhshed the first detailed information on its habits and 

 song. Further work has been very scarce, however, and today the 

 black-chinned is probably one of the most poorly knowTi sparrows 

 north of Mexico. 



The common name of this bu'd tells us its most characteristic 

 feature, which sets it apart from the other members of its genus. 

 Sexual differences in the size and intensity of the chin patch make 

 this the only sexually dimorphic Spizella. In nearly all other aspects 

 of its appearance, however, it is a typical Spizella. 



Perhaps one reason why the black-chinned sparrow is so little 

 known is its choice of habitat, the tablelands and rugged mountain 

 slopes of southwestern United States and Mexico. Grinnell and 

 Miller (1944) describe its habitat in Cahfornia as "Tall fairly dense 

 sagebrush {Artemisia iridentata), or other brushland types of similar 

 physical aspect. Usually the cover contains a variety of plant species, 

 such as purshia, ephedra and coffee berry in addition to the prevailing 

 artemisia. Sloping ground and rocky outcrops or scattered pinons 

 and junipers interrupting the brush cover are characteristic." John- 

 son, Bryant, and Miller (1948) describe their encounter with this 

 species in the Providence Mountains of California: "Black-chinned 

 sparrows were summer residents tlu-oughout the Upper Sonoran Zone, 

 at elevations between 5,000 and 7,500 feet. They stayed in brush- 

 covered areas for the most part, nesting in sagebrush * * *, A few 



