134 THE GAMBEL SPARROW. 



No. 33. 

 (,.\MHI-;i;S SI'ARROW. 



A. O. U. Xo. 554a. Zonotrichia leucophrys j^ambelii (Nuttall). 



Synonyms. — I.\tkkmkoiati;-ckuw.m:ii Siakkhss. l.MKKMKmATK Si-akkow. 



Description. — .Idtills: Crown |)urc white. Ijc'cnniing gray hcliind ; lateral 

 crown-stripes meeting in front, anil post-ocular stripes, jet black, separated by 

 white stripe continuous with lore; remainder of head, neck all around, and entire 

 underparts slaty gray, darkest on nape, whitening on chin and belly, with a 

 tawny wash on flanks and crissuin ; back and scapulars brown (burnt umber) 

 edged with gray; rump and upper tail-coverts tawny olivaceous; wings and tail 

 fuscous, the tertials dark-centered with edgings of bay and white; middle and 

 greater coverts tijiped with white, forming twn inconspicuous wing-bars; rcclrices 

 with brown shafts and tawny edgings, bill reddish brown al)ovc, safTron yellow 

 below, with tij) of maxilla black. JOimk/ of the year have the black of head 

 rci)laccd by light chestnut, and the white by ochracco-fuscous or gray; in general 

 darker and browner al)ove than adult. Length 6.50-7.00 ( 165-180) : wing 3.07 

 (78) : tail 2.76 ( 70 I : bill .42 ( 10.7 ) ; tarsus .89 ( 22.5 ). 



Recognition Marks. — Si)arrow size; broad white crown and jet black lateral 

 stri|>cs strongly contra'-ting : slightly larger and general coloration lighter than in 

 Z. /. iiuttiilli: white crown-stripe broa<ler. 



Nestin};. — -As next ; not known to breed in Washington but |)robably docs so. 



ucneral Range. — Western North .Vmerica, breeding from Montana, eastern 

 Oregon, etc., northward between coast mountains of l'>ritish Columbia and Alaska 

 an<l the interior plains to the lower Mackenzie and .Anderson River N'allcys, thence 

 westward thruout .Maska to the coast of Bering Sea ; in winter southward across 

 western United States into Mexico and Lower California, straggling eastward 

 across the Cireat Plains. 



Range in \\ ashington. — .Abundant spring and fall migrant on the Kast-sido, 

 possiblv summer resident ; doubtless migrant west of Cascades, but no specimens 

 taken. 



Migrations. — Spring: .\pril 20-May 20. Wallula. .April 24, 1905: Chelan, 

 .April 24, 1896; Brook Lake, June 7, n><v'<. 



Authorities. — I'riiifjilla tuiiiihclii Nuttall, Man. Orn. V. S. & Canada, 2d 

 Ed., I, 1840, 556. Z. gambcli intcrmcduj I'.rewster, 1'. X. O. C. \'IL 1882, p. 

 227. D'. Sr."D^ Kk. j. 



Specimens. — V . of W. C. P. 



IT IS ])nil)al)ly .safe to say that during the height of their spring migra- 

 tions, viz., April 13th ti> I^Liy 15th. these hinls exceefl in numl>ers all the 

 other sparrows of eastern Washington combined. Indeed, on certain occa- 

 sions, it would seem that tlie>- are more mmierous than all other birds com- 

 bined. And this altho they do not move in pfreat fliKks in the open, like 

 Redpolls, hut tlit and skulk wherever there is show of cover. Wayside 

 thickets, spring draws, and the timl>cre<I banks of streams are favorite places. 

 The more isolatcfl the cover the more certain it is to l>e held as a Zonotrichian 



