240 LAND BIRDS 
581a. DESERT SONG SPARROW. — Melospiza melodia 
fallax. 
Famity: The Finches, Sparrows, ete. 
Length: 6.10-6.50. 
Adults: Upper parts light gray; back streaked with rusty, usually 
without blackish shaft-line; under parts brownish buffy; chest 
streaked with chestnut. 
Young: Upper parts dull brown; back streaked with brown; under 
parts butfy white ; chest streaked. 
Geographical Distribution: New Mexico, Arizona, Southern Nevada, 
Utah, Southern and Lower California. 
California Breeding Range: In extreme southeastern portion, along the 
lower Colorado River. 
Breeding Season: April and May. 
Nest: Of grasses, weeds, and leaves ; lined with fine grass stems, roots, 
and sometimes hair ; placed in low bushes, or in tufts of grass on the 
ground. 
Eggs: 4; light greenish or bluish white, more or less spotted with 
brown. Size 0.75 X 0.55. 
THE Song Sparrow is a bird with a name that fits. 
Every day in the month, every month in the year, you 
may hear his ecstatic song. In rain or shine, in heat or 
cold, whether in Maine or California, he is the same 
jolly fellow, singing his glad little roundelay, a “ plain, 
every-day home song with the heart left in.’ And he 
may be found everywhere. No State in the Union lacks 
the cheer of his sunny presence. To be sure, he has 
various prefixes to his name,—as in California he is 
dubbed “ Desert Song Sparrow,” “ Mountain Song Spar- 
row, “ Heerman Song Sparrow,” “ Samuels,” “ Rusty,” 
“Santa Barbara,” “San Clementa,” and “ Merrill’? Song 
Sparrow, — each name indicating some variation of plu- 
mage due to environment. In the extreme northern por- 
