132 THE GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW. 
mony in the artemisia, while Brewer's fits into the somber, brown-and-streaky 
scheme of its twigs and branches. To carry out the comparison, do not look 
for brewert early in the season, when the breath of the rain rises from the 
ground and the air is astir: he is there, of course, but disregard him. Wait, 
rather, until the season is advanced, when the incomparable sun of Yakima 
has filled the sage-brush full to overflowing, and it begins to ooze out heat 
in drowsy, indolent waves. Then listen: [leeeezzz, tubitubitubitubitub, the 
first part an inspired trill, and the remainder an exquisitely modulated ex- 
pirated trill in descending cadence. Instantly one conceives a great respect 
for this plain dot in feathers, whose very existence may have passed unnoticed 
before. The descending strain of the common song has, in some individuals, 
all the fine shading heard in certain imported canaries. Pitch is conceded 
by infinitesimal gradations, whereby the singer, from some heaven of fancy, 
brings us down gently to a topmost twig of earthly attainment. Nor does 
the song in other forms lack variety. In fact, a midday chorus of Brewer 
Sparrows is a treat which makes a tramp in the sage memorable. 
Brewer’s Sparrow is of the sage sagey, and its range in Washington is 
almost exactly co-extensive with the distribution of that doughty shrub; but it 
is of record that Spisella breweri indulges in some romantic vacations, a speci- 
men being once taken by me (July 25, 1900) at 8000 feet, upon the glacier 
levels of Wright's Peak. 
No. 52. 
GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW. 
A. O. U. No. 557. Zonotrichia coronata ( Pall.). 
Description.—Adults: A broad crown stripe gamboge-yellow, changing 
abruptly to ashy gray on occiput; this bounded on each side by broad stripe of 
silky black meeting fellow on forehead; remaining upperparts grayish brown, 
broadly streaked with black on back, more or less edged with dull chestnut on 
back, wing-coverts and tertials, glossed with olive on rump and tail; middle and 
greater coverts tipped with white forming conspicuous bars; chin, throat and 
sides of head ashy gray with obscure vermiculations of dusky; remaining under- 
parts washed with buffy brown, darkest on sides and flanks, lightest, to dull 
white, on belly, obsoletely and finely barred on breast. Bill blackish above, paler 
below; feet pale; iris brown. Jmmature: Without definite head-stripe; crown 
broadly dull olive-yellow, clearest on forehead, elsewhere sharply flecked with 
blackish in wedge-shaped marks, giving way to grayish brown or dull chestnut 
behind and to blackish on sides (variably according to age?). Length 7.20 
(182.8) ; wing 3.28 (83.3) ; tail 3.06 (77.7) ; bill .48 (12.2) ; tarsus .96 (24.3). 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; yellow of crown distinctive in any 
plumage. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. Nest and eggs said to be very 
similar to those of Z. J. nuttalli. 
