°903 J R-^^"^' ^""(i Birds of Lake I'aUey, Cal. igo 



69. Spizella breweri. Brewer Sparrow. — Several were shot near 

 Mejer's Station in July, 1896, by Mr. Wilfred Osgood. I saw what I took 

 to be this bird on the brush covered rocky slopes on the east side of the 

 valley, but did not notice it about Bijou. 



70. Junco hyemalis thurberi. * Sierra Jukco. — A coinmon summer 

 resident; frequents the fertile meadows and localities adjacent to streams 

 more than the dry, sparsely wooded sections of the valley. My first nest 

 was found on June 7, 1901, containing four eggs that were just blowable. 

 This nest was completely hidden by the wide drooping leaves of a wild 

 sunflower, and was situated on the bank of an irrigating ditch, two miles 

 over the State line in Nevada. My prettiest set of eggs was taken a long 

 distance west of the summit, one mile west of Maple Grove, near River- 

 ton, on June 13, 1902. While driving along the road we flushed a junco 

 from a dripping mossy bank just above the road. The nest was very 

 damp, and well lined with coon hair. The eggs, three in number, were 

 fresh, and heavily marked in a wreath around the larger end with great 

 blotches of rich chestnut red and lavender. Near Phillip's Station, on 

 June 16, 1902, a nest was discovered on the ground, flush with the surface, 

 with four eggs of the lightly marked type, in which incubation had just 

 begun. A curious nest was noted at Bijou in an empty tin can. It had 

 held two eggs, but these had rolled out on the ground and the birds had 

 deserted it. At an altitude of about 9000 feet, while climbing Pyramid 

 Peak, on July 5, 1902, I collected a nest with three partly incubated eggs 

 placed under the projecting ledge of a great boulder. Another was found 

 with four eggs, in which incubation had also just begun. It was located 

 in a similar situation and appears in the photograph by my brother who 

 found it. All the above nests are similar in construction, being made 

 of grasses and weed stems and some are lined with horse or other hair. 



71. Melospiza cinerea montana. Mountain Song Sparrow. — A 

 rather common bird about Rowlands and also seen occasionally in thickets 

 along streams, where a nest was found on the ground June 20, 1902, con- 

 taining five badly incubated eggs. It was so securely hidden bv a tall 

 broad-leaved plant that I would have passed it by unnoticed had "not the 

 parent fluttered off at my feet. On June 22, 1902, I found a nest at Row- 

 land's Marsh in a willow, over deep water, containing four small young. 



72. Melospiza lincolni. Lincoln Sparrow. —On June 7, 1902, Mn 

 Forrest Hanford secured a specimen on a meadow at 7,200 feet elevation, 

 where it was probably about to breed. 



73. Passerella iliaca unalaschensis. Townsend Sparrow. — Mr. 

 Price records six sparrows of this form taken on Silver Creek, within 

 three miles of Pyramid Peak, in September, 1S96. One specimen was 

 very light colored and referable to the Fox Sparrow rather than to P. i. 

 ufialasc/tensts. 



74. Passerella iliaca megarhyncha. Thick-billed Sparrow. — 

 Rather abundant on the bushy, rocky hillsides in the eastern part of Lake 

 Valley, where it delivers its sweet song from some patch of brush or jagged 

 rock. I was unable to locate any nests. 



