WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 215 
542b. WESTERN SAVANNA SPARROW. — Ammo- 
dramus sandnichensis alaudinus. 
Famity: The Finches, Sparrows, ete. 
Length : 4.75-5.90. 
Adults : Upper parts brownish gray, streaked with black ; the streaks in 
sharp contrast to feather-edgings of whitish, grayish, or buffy ; crown 
stripe and superciliary usually yellow, sometimes white. 
Young: Similar to adults, but light markings more buffy ; under parts 
less distinctly marked; superciliary stripe usually without yellow, 
and finely streaked. 
Geographical Distribution : Western North America, from Alaska south 
in winter to Guatemala. 
California Breeding Range: In valleys east of the Sierra Nevada re- 
corded from Owens Lake. 
Breeding Season: May and June. 
Nest : On the ground, in meadows or other grassy places. 
Eggs: 3 to 6; pale brownish, varying to dull whitish or greenish white, 
spotted with brown. Size 0.75 X 0.55. 
WHEN on a tramp through salt marsh or upland 
meadow you flush a sparrow-like bird, with more white 
in its plumage than most sparrows, and with yellow 
about the eye and on the band of the wing, you may 
write it down tentatively as a Western Savanna Sparrow. 
If, a little later, you find it swinging on a grass stem, 
uttering its “weak little insect-like trill,” you may be 
sure of its identity. He is one of the hardest of all the 
sparrow tribe to observe, and the one least apt to be dis- 
covered by the bird-lover, because the moment he be- 
comes aware of your presence he drops into the grass 
and refuses to come into view. Even when flushed, his 
flight is merely a short zigzag to the nearest cover. Yet 
although you find so few, there are doubtless a large 
