FOX SPAEEOWS 475 



required some search to determine his exact location among the many small 

 trees in that particular glade. At intervals of from 8 to 20 seconds up 

 would go his head, his bill would open, and forth would come the song, 

 his entire body quivering with the effort of utterance. His songs were of 

 two types, neither of which was satisfactorily expressible in writing. The 

 number of syllables in each group of notes varied somewhat, but otherwise 

 the songs differed only by occasional omission of a trill which was the 

 conspicuous element in one of the types. 



The male fox sparrow seems not to indulge in any elaborate courting 

 behavior such as is characteristic of certain other birds. His song is evi- 

 dently a sufficient demonstration. But at Chinquapin, on May 19, 1919, 

 a singing male while perched had its tail widely spread. This habit is 

 very common among the males of some birds during the spring months, 

 but its use by the fox sparrow shows that it is not peculiar to species with 

 white tail markings, in which the display is so much more conspicuous. 



These birds are quite secretive as regards their nesting. In 1915, when 

 necessary attention to many other species limited the time which could be 

 devoted to fox sparrows, we did not find any occupied nests, and but one 

 bob-tailed fledgling (fig. 55a) came to our attention. But in 1919 several 

 nests were discovered, although only after a careful and continued search. 



The first nest, located at Chinquapin on May 21, 1919, was scarcely 

 300 feet from the government barns on the stage road. It was situated 

 on a small level bench covered with snow bush and chinquapin and close 

 to a forest of firs and sugar pine on the slopes of Indian Creek. A male 

 had been noted there singing regularly at short intervals during the pre- 

 ceding two days. His song perch was about 6 feet above the ground and 

 halfway up in a clump of small black oaks which were just coming into 

 leaf. Occasionally he would go to another perch a few yards distant and 

 above the chaparral; and more rarely he mounted 40 feet or even more 

 above the ground to one of the dead lower branches of a nearby sugar pine. 

 But fully four-fifths of his singing was done from the first mentioned 

 perch, which was found to closely overlook the nest site 50 feet distant and 

 due south. The female was usually out of sight. 



Once both birds were observed together, the female feeding along the 

 ground and frequently fluffing out her plumage as is the custom of an 

 incubating bird. She uttered the Brown Towhee-like 'clink' note at short 

 intervals. The male was in close attendance but not singing. Presently 

 the female, followed by her mate, flew to the top of a patch of Ceanothus 

 cordulaius about 25 feet in diameter, and after a look around, disappeared 

 into the clump. The male thereupon repaired to his usual post and sang. 

 After a minute or so the observer, who had been watching at some dis- 

 tance, went to the brush patch where the female had disappeared and shook 



