en ‘THE SAGE SPARROW. — 
of that northward trend of species which we shall have frequent occasion 
to remark. ‘The passion of the North Pole quest is not merely a human 
weakness; it is a deep-rooted instinct which we only share with the birds. 
There was once a near-Eden yonder, a Pliocene paradise, from which the 
cruel ice evicted us—birds and men—long, long ago. We go now to reclaim 
our own. 
No. 45. 
SAGE SPARROW. 
A. O. U. No. 574.1. Amphispiza nevadensis (Ridgw.). 
Synonyms.—ARTEMISIA SPARROW. NEVADA SAGE SPARROW. 
Description.—Adults: Upperparts (including auriculars and sides of neck) 
ashy gray to ashy brown, clearer and grayer anteriorly, browner posteriorly ; pileum, 
back and scapulars sharply and narrowly streaked with black; wings and tail 
dull black with light brownish or pale grayish edging; the rectrices marked with 
white much as in preceding species; a supraloral spot, an orbital ring and 
(usually) a short median line on forehead white; sides of head slaty gray; lores 
dusky ; underparts white, clearest on throat where bounded and set off from white 
of malar area by interrupted chain of dusky streaks, occasionally with dusky 
spot on center of breast, marked on sides and flanks with buffy and streaked 
with dusky; edge of wing pale yellow or yellowish white. Bill blackish above, 
lighter below; legs dark brown, toes darker; iris brown. Young: “Pileum, hind- 
neck, chest and sides, as well as back, streaked with dusky; otherwise essentially 
as in adults” (Ridgway). Underparts save on throat sometimes tinged with 
yellowish or buffy. Length of adult male about 6.00 (152.4); wing 3.11 (79); 
tail 2.95 (75); bill .39 (10); tarsus .84 (21.5). Female a little smaller. 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size (barely); ashy gray plumage; white 
throat defined by dusky streaks. 
Nesting.—Nest: of twigs, sage bark, and “hemp” warmly lined with wool, 
rabbit-fur, cow-hair or feathers, placed low in crotch of sage bush. Eggs: 3-5, 
usually 4, brownish- or greenish-gray as to ground, dotted, spotted or clouded, 
rarely scrawled, with chestnut or sepia and with some purplish shell markings. 
Ay. size .80 x .60 (20.3x 15.2). Season: April, June; two broods. 
General Range.—Great Basin region of the Western United States, west 
to eastern base of Sierra Nevada, east to eastern base of Rockies, north (at least) 
to northern Washington; south, in winter, into southern Arizona, etc. 
Range in Washington.—Upper Sonoran and Arid Transition life zones in 
eastern Washington north at least to the Grand Couleé; summer resident. 
Authorities.—|‘“Sagebrush Sparrow” Johnson, Rep. Goy. W. T. 1884 (1885), 
22.) Amphispiza belli nevadensis, Dawson, Wilson Bulletin, No. 39, June, 1902, 
jy OF SSi5 SS4 
Specimens.—U. of W. P. 
