Vol.xxn-j Grinnell, Large-billed Sparrow. I g 



in the vicinity of San Pedro (and San Diego, too). It nests pro- 

 fusely in the immediate vicinity of San Pedro, as can be attested 

 to by numerous recent observers, such as Swarth, Morcom, 

 Daggett, Law, Judson, and myself. But none of these students 

 has detected the presence of the Large-billed Sparrow in the same 

 locality, or anywhere else, for that matter, between " late in April " 

 and August 31, as far as I have been informed. Now turning to 

 Cooper's account of " Passerailus anthinus, the Titlark Sparrow," 

 which to this extent equals the Belding Marsh Sparrow, we find 

 these statements : 1 " They abound in winter south of San Fran- 

 cisco, but I am not sure that any of them spend the summer so 

 far south, though inclined to think that they do. Near San Diego, 

 in February, they began to utter a short but pleasant song as they 

 perched on the top of some tall weed ; and though I observed 

 them there until April, I did not succeed in finding any nests, and 

 have not found the species at San Pedro in su7>wier.'''' - It is well 

 known that Cooper collected but few specimens (often only one) 

 of a species, and from the above-quoted statements it is plain to 

 me that in his field observations he sadly confused the two species, 

 which are not strikingly different out of hand. This reasonably 

 accounts for the "breeding record" of Passerailus rostratus at 

 San Pedro, which we need therefore no longer hesitate to put 

 down as erroneous. 



Right here it is interesting to note how definitely expressed 

 assertions may have evolved from a very small foundation of fact. 

 Among the many general accounts of the species rn current liter- 

 ature, I select two of the extremest illustrations. In Reed's 

 ' North American Birds' Eggs,' recently published, we read (p. 253) 

 under the heading of Large-billed Sparrow, " .... their nesting 

 habits are similar to and the eggs not distinguished with certainty 

 from those of the latter [Belding Marsh Sparrow]." Of course 

 this \s probable, perhaps ; but have authentic eggs been compared ? 

 Again, in Wheelock's ' Birds of California,' we find under Large- 

 billed Sparrow (p. 219), "California Breeding Range: along the 

 salt marshes of the coast from the San Diegan district north to 



1 Orn. Cal., I, 1870, iS : 



2 Italics mine. 



