I30 Tllli; I'.RKWER Si'.\kl« )W. 



CliippiiiK Sparrows are very devoted parents and tlie sitting female will some- 

 times allow herself to l>e taken in the hand. The male hird is not less se<liilous 

 in the care of the yonnjj. ami he sometimes exercises a fatherly oversight of 

 the first hatch of hahies, while his mate is preparing for the Jnnc crop. 



No. 51. 



bri:\\i:rs sparrow. 



A. ( ). r. No. 562. Spi/ella breweri Cassin. 



Description. — .Idiilts: IpiJcrparts grayish lirown, lirightcst lirown on hack. 

 evcrywiuTc ( save on rcniij^cs and ri-ctrici"> 1 strcakod with black or dusky, narrnw- 

 Iv on crown, more broadly on back and scapulars, less distinctly on rump; wing- 

 covcrts and tcrtials varied by etljjings of brownish buff; llight- feathers and rectrices 

 dark grayish brown or dusky with some edging of light grayish brown; a broad 

 pale buffy sni)erciliary stripe scarcely contrasting witli surroundings; unrlerparts 

 dull whitish tinged on sides and across breast by pale buffy gray. Bill pale 

 brown darkening on tip and along culmen ; feet i>alc brown, iris brown. )'oiiiiii 

 birds are less consjiicuously streaked above; middle and greater coverts broadly 

 tip|)ed with buffy forming two distinct bands; breast streaked with dusky. 

 Length 5.30 ( 1.351: wing j.44 {(>2): tail 2.3S ( C0.5 ) ; bill ..^S ( 8.8 1 ; tarsus 

 M ( 1 7.4 » . 



Recognition Marks. — Warbler size; general streaked ajjpearance; ahsi'iicc 

 of distinguishing marks practically distinctive; sage-haunting habits. 



Nesting. — Xcst: of small twigs ami dried grasses, lined with horse-hair, set 

 loosely in sage-bush. lic/ijs: 4 or 5, greenish blue, dotted an<l spotted, sometimes 

 in ring alKwt larger end, with reddish brown. Av. size .67 x .49 (17x12.4). 

 Srasoit: April. June; two broods. 



General Range.— Sage-brush plains of the West, breeding from .Vrizona to 

 r.ritish (.'c.lumliia and cast to western Nebraska and western Texas; south in 

 winter to Mexico and Lower California. 



Range in Washington. — C)]>cn country of the East-side, abundant summer 

 resi<leiit ; occasionally invades Cascade Mountains (only in late stunmer?). 



Migrations. — Spriin/: Yakima March 20. 1900. 



Authorities. — ["Brewer's sparrow," Johnson, Rej). dov. W. T. 1884 ( 1S85), 

 22\. Dawson, Auk. XIW 1897. 178. D'. Ss'. Ss^ 



Specimens. — I', of W. P. C. 



IT IS never quite fair to say that Xatnrc produces a creature which 

 harmonizes i)crfectly with its .surroundings, for the moment we yiehl tribute 

 of admiration to one creature, we discover amid the same circumstances 

 another as nearly jicrfect hut entirely difTerent. When we consider the Sage 

 Sparrow we think that Nature cannot improve much ujion his soft grays 

 bv wav of fitness for his desert environment; hut when we come uixmi the 

 Brewer Sparn-w. we are ready to wager that here the dame has done her 



