142 lilK KUSTY SONG SI'ARRt)\\. 



favorite building site is amid the debris of last year's flood water, caught 

 in tlie willow clumps of creek or lagoon. With high boots one may wade 

 the bet! nf a brushy creek near Yakima and count certainly on tinding a 

 Merrill Song Sparrow's nest every five or ten rods. 



No. 57. 

 RlSrV S()N(. SI'ARRoW. 



A. O. L'. .\'o. 581 c. .N\clospi/a nicloJia morphna < ilicrimlsiT. 



Description. — .Idiilts: SonKwlial like M. m. iiiontaiui but coloratifMi much 

 innru rufi'sci'iU, general color of uppcr])arts rich rusty bmwn, ashy gray of M. m. 

 niinitami n-pn-scnted by rusty olive and this reduci-<l or I in some plumages) 

 almf>st wanting: black mesial streaks of scajiulars. etc., nnich reduced, indistinct 

 or sometiuK-s wanting; underparts heavily and broadly streaked with chestnut 

 usually without black shaft hues; sides and flanks washed with olivaceous. 

 ")'oiiiig, slightly rufesceiU bister brown above, the back streaked with blackish, 

 beneath dull whitish or very pale bufTy grayish, the chest, sides and flanks more 

 or less tinged with huffy or i)ale fulvous and streaked with sooty brownish" 

 (Ridgway). Length al«)ut 6.40 ( 162.5); wing 2.C)0 ( f 16 ) ; tail 2.56 (65); bill 

 .50 ( 12.7) : tarsus .67 ( 17). 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size; rusty brown coloration; heavily spot- 

 ting of inider[)arts distinctive save for the russcrcllu iliaca group from which it 

 is further distinguished by smaller size and varied hea<l markings. 



Nesting. — Kcst: .\s in preceding. E</</s: usually 4, averaging darker in 

 coloration and larger than in M. m. mcrrilU. Av. size, .87 x .63 (22.1 .\ 16). 

 Season: second week in .•\])ril to July; two or three broo<ls. 



General Range. — "Hrecding from extreme southern jwrtion of Alaska 

 thrf)ugh IJritish Columbia (including \'ancouver Island) to western Oregon 

 (north of Rogue River Mountains) ; in winter, south to southern California (Fort 

 Tejoii, i-tc.)" (Ridgway). 



Range in Washington. — Common resident west of the Cascades; found 

 chiefly in vicinity of water. 



Authorities. — ? .\udubon, Orn. Biog. \'. 18^9, 22. M. rufina. Baird, Rej). 

 I'ac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858. p. 481. (T). C&S. L'.'RIi. Kb. Ra. Kk. B. E. 



Specimens.— I ■. of W. V. Prnv. P.. BX. E. 



IF (^N'b* were to write a book alnnu the blessings of common things, 

 an early chapter must needs be devoted to the Song Si)arrow. How blessed 

 .1 thing it is that we do not all f)f us ha\e to go to greeidiouses for our 

 flowers, nor to foreign shores for birds. Why. there is more lavish love- 

 liness in a dandelion than there is in an im|)orted orchid; and I fancy wc 

 should tire of the Nightingale, if we had to exchange for him our sweet 

 l>oel of connnon day. the Song Sparrow. 



