THE NUTTALL SPARROW. 135 



strunghiiUl, and they are sometimes su hard put tu it t\)r sheUcr that they 

 resort in numljers to the sage-brush, where they affect great secretiveiiess. 



These handsome and courtly gentlemen with their no less interesting, 

 it somewhat plainer, wives are tar more reserved than their talents would 

 warrant. Our approach has sent a score of them scurrying intO' cover, a 

 neglected rose-l)riar patch which screens a fence, and now we cannot see 

 one of them. .\n nccasional sharp d::iiik of warning or protest comes out 

 of the screen, nr a sujjprcssed titter of excitement, as two birds jostle in their 

 effort to keep out of sight. W'e are being scrutinized, however, bv twenty 

 pairs of sharp eyes, and when our probation is ended, now one bird and n()w 

 another hops up to an exposed branch to see and be seen. 



What distinguished foreigners they are, indeed, with their white crowns, 

 slightly raised and sharply offset by the black stripes which flank them, — 

 Russians, perhaps, with shakos of sable and ermine. Tlie bird has an aristo- 

 cratic air which is unmistakable; and, once he has deigned to show himself, 

 appears to expect deference as his due. What a pity thev will not make 

 their homes with us, Init must needs go further north ! 



.\s diligently as I have searched for this species, I have never found a 

 si)ecimen in the summer months'*, nor is tlrere any record of the bird's nest- 

 ing in Washington. This is the more remarkable in that the type form 

 (Z. leucophrys) breeds extensively "thruout the high mountain districts of 

 the western United States" (Ridgway), exclusive of Washington and Oregon, 

 southward to the San Francisco Mountains of .Arizona, "northward to north- 

 ern California (Mount Shasta, etc.)." In view of this, one may feel free 

 to suggest that the Camp Harney record'', referred to gainbclii. is reallv 

 referable to the typical form, and that as such it represents a northern exten- 

 sion of leiicoplirys. rather than a southern extension oi gainbcHi. 



No. 54. 



NUTTALL'S SPARROW. 



A. O. U. No. 554 1). Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli K'idgw. 



Synonyms. — Formerly called G.ambicl's Sparrow. WHiTE-CROWxr.n Sp.\r- 

 Kow (name properly confined to Z. leucophrys). Crown Sparrow. 



Description. — .Idults: Like ])rcceding but general tone of coloration much 

 darker : streaks of back and scapulars deepest brown or blackish ; general ground- 

 color of upperparts light olivc-gray; median crown-stri])c narrower, dull white; 



a. Until tltc season of 1908. See onte under "Migrations." 



b. "(?) nendirc, Proc. Bost. Soc. .\. II. XIX., 1877, 118 (Camp Harney, e. Oregon, breeding)" 

 (Ridgwayi. 



