450 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



the whole upper surface bearing a pattern of narrow streaks. This 

 plumage is worn but a short time. In August all of it (except the wing 

 and tail feathers) is molted, and the bird then acquires the immature or 

 first winter plumage, which resembles that of the adult save for the color- 

 ation of the crown, which is brown and buff instead of black and white. 

 In this plumage the immature birds go south to spend the winter, but 

 before they return, another partial molt in early spring gives them the 

 crown coloration of the adults. 



When the Intermediate Sparrows come south in the fall the immature 

 birds have dull colored heads, but at the end of winter, in March or April, 

 the prenuptial molt gives them black-and-white striped heads like their 

 parents. This spring molt is participated in by both adults and imma- 

 tures, but, obviously, the change in color is conspicuous only in the latter. 



The stomach of an adult male Hudsonian White-crowned Sparrow taken 

 at Lake Tenaya on July 3, 1915, contained, in so far as its contents were 

 recognizable, nothing but beetles. General observation leads to the belief 

 that a considerable part of this sparrow's food during the summer con- 

 sists of insects. The birds which winter in the foothills {gmnbeli) subsist 

 largely if not entirely on vegetable material (the cotyledons of newly 

 sprouting plants, and seeds) most of which is gleaned from the open 

 ground near thickets. At Lagrange they take advantage of easy forage 

 obtained in the gardens, and in so doing conflict wath the interests of the 

 truck gardeners there. 



Golden-crowned Sparrow. Zonotrichia coronata (Pallas) 



Field c/iaraciers.— Decidedly larger than Junco. Upper surface of body dull brown, 

 streaked on back with black; under surface of body not streaked, light grayish brown, 

 lialest on belly; top of head in adults golden yellow, margined with black (pi. 8/), 

 in immatures dull mottled brown; two rows of white spots across closed wing. Voice: 

 Song, three clear whistled notes, in minor key, descending in pitch and suggesting the 

 words oh dear me; both sexes utter a rather sharp single-syllabled call note. 



Occurrence. — Common winter visitant to foothill and plains country (Sonoran zones) 

 from Snelling east to El Portal; during autumn invades higher portions of west slope 

 of Sierra Nevada, east to vicinity of McGee Lake. Stays in or near thickets. Often in 

 loose flocks. 



The brush thickets and adjacent feeding grounds which serve the Inter- 

 mediate White-crowned Sparrow through the winter months are shared 

 by another sparrow of slightly larger size and somewhat different color- 

 ation and voice, but of similar habits. This is the Golden-crowned Sparrow, 

 another of our many winter visitants from the far north. 



Our earliest seasonal record for the Golden-crowned Sparrow was made 

 on October 2 (1915) when at least 7 adult and immature birds were seen 



