358 



Bailey, Birds of the Upper Pecos. f^",'' 



LJuly 



Pocecetes gramineus confinis. Western Vesper Sparrow. — Mr. 

 Henshaw secured a single individual which, he says, "was doubtless 

 merely a migrant which had strayed from its proper territory lower down 

 on the plains." The broad grassy mesas of the upper parts of the moun- 

 tains, however, are ideal breeding grounds for the Vesper Sparrow, and 

 on one of these meadows, at 10,400 feet, the birds were found singing a 

 number of times between July 25 and August 17, one being taken on 

 Julj- 25. In Colorado the Vesper Sparrow breeds commonly to 9000 feet^ 

 and sometimes up to 12,000 feet. 



Coturniculus bairdii. Baird Sparrow. — On August 1 1 Mr. Bailey 

 took a Baird Sparrow on one of the open mesas near timberline. Others 

 were .secured September 2 on the high plains north of Las Vegas. 



Zonotrichia leucophrys. White-crowned Sparrow. — Mr. Henshaw 

 states that the White-crown is "present only as a rare migrant, it being 

 too far south for the species to breed." Of course it is now known that 

 the breeding range extends, as Mr. Ridgway gives it, "southward to New 

 Mexico and Arizona (San Francisco Mountains)," but had Mr. Henshaw 

 visited the higher levels of the Pecos Mountains he would have extended 

 the range himself, for he would have found the birds abundant breeders 

 there. As in the Sierra, leucophrys is one of the commonest and most 

 characteristic birds of the Hudsonian zone. The birds were singing up 

 to timberline on Pecos Baldy as late as the middle of August, and the 

 willows at the base of the peak were alive with them. A molting adult 

 was found carrying food on August 8. In the wmIIows bordering Jack 

 Creek, at 1 1,000 feet, a nest contained one egg and two young nearly ready 

 to leave the nest on July 27. In watching the parent birds I was struck 

 by their use of their crest. We had been told of a bird with a white 

 crown and I found that when wanting to attract attention, to draw one 

 from the nest, leucophrys often spreads its crown so wide that the black 

 bordering stripes might easily be overlooked, the white then serving as a 

 good recognition mark. But, on the other hand, when the birds wanted 

 to steal unobserved through the willows to the nest, they lowered the 

 crown so flat that the black and white lines were of almost equal width, 



Spizella socialis arizonae. Western Chipping Sparrow. — Mr. Hen- 

 shaw found arizoncE "an abundant summer resident " of the Transition 

 zone, and we found a nest with nearly grown young at Glorieta July 8, 

 and found the birds common at 11,000 feet, where 3'oung, out of the nest, 

 were being fed on July 23. The sparrows were fairly common in the 

 Hudsonian zone the second week in August, and were seen August 11 at 

 timberline, 11,300 feet, on the south side of Truchas. 



Junco dorsalis. Rkd-backed Junco. — A single specimen of dorsalis 

 was taken at 8000 feet on July 13. It was taken near a nest from which 

 we had flushed a Junco the day before. 



Junco caniceps. Gray-headed Junco. — Juncos were breeding abun- 

 dantly at 11,000 feet, nests being found everywhere in the open. On July 

 22 a nest was found containing partly feathered young ; on July 24 one 



