THE OREGON VESPER SPARROW. 109 



Two and sometimes three broods are raised in a season, the first in late 

 April, the second in late June or early July. Pastures and fallow grounds are 

 favorite spots for home building, but I have frequently come upon the nests 

 in the open sage, and here oftenest upon hillsides or tops of low ridges. 



.Altho not averse to the wilderness, there is reason to believe that this 

 bird profits by the aihent of cixilizatinti, and that its numbers arc slowly 

 increasing. 



No. 40. 



OREGON VESPER SPARROW. 



.•\. O. U. No. 540 1). PocEcetes gramineus affinis Aliller. 



Synonyms. — P.\ciFic Vesper Sparrow. Miller's Gr.'\ss Finch. 



Description. — Similar to P. g. confinis but smaller and coloration darker, 

 browner above, more distinctly buffy below. Length of adult male about 5.75 

 (146); wing 3.04 (77.2); tail 2.28 (57.9); bill .43 (10.9); tarsus .81 (20.6). 

 Female a little smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — .As in ])rfccding, less liable to confusion because of 

 absence of L'.rewer Si:)arrow, Western Lark Sparrow, etc., from range. 



Nesting. — Nest: on ploughed ground or under shelter of fern-stalk, fallen 

 branch, or the like ; of grasses lined with hair ; measures externally 3 inches across 

 by 2 in depth, inside 2!4 across by iJ4 in depth. Eggs: 3 or 4, size and color 

 as in preceding. Season: May; one brood, rarely two. 



General Range. — Pacific coast district from northern California north to 

 Hritish Columbia (including Vancouver Island); south in winter thru southern 

 California to Cape St. Lucas. 



Range in Washington. — Of local occurrence on prairies and in cultivated 

 valleys west of the Cascades — not common. 



Migrations. — Spring: Tacoma April 9, 1906: April 13, 1907. 



Authorities. — Pooccctes gramineus Ba|i|rd. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. 

 L\. 1858. p. 447 (part). (T). C&S. Ra. B. 



Specimens.— rU. of W.) P. Prov. P.. E. 



'I'llF appearance of a Vesper Sparrow where trees arc the rule is some- 

 thing of an anomaly. Nevertheless, this plains-loving bird seems to do very 

 well in the prairie region south of 'I'acoma : and it has been here at least long 

 enough to begin to assume the darker garb which characterizes old residents 

 of the Sound region. 



The bird is becoming fairly conmion wherever conditions in the large 

 are suitable for it. 1 found it in numbers at Dungeness in the sijring of 1906; 

 and the agricultural lands of the .Skagit are being accepted l)y this gentle 

 songster as tho duly made and ])r(ivided. 



Mr. Bowles finds that eggs ma\- not be looked for in the \icinitv of 



