[558] BIRDS OF OREGON 



in all plumages, the white replacing the buff, making the black streaks more con- 

 spicuously contrasted. (Adapted from Grinnell 1910.) Si%e: Length (skins) 4.50- 

 5.55, wing 2.. 65-1. 88, tail 1.85-1.08, exposed culmen .36-. 41. Nest and eggs: Same 

 as for P. s. alaudinus. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in Great Basin from southern British Columbia, 

 eastern Oregon, and northeastern California east to North Dakota and Colorado and 

 south to southern California, southern Nevada, and northern New Mexico. Winters 

 south into Mexico. In Oregon: Breeding form east of Cascades. 



THE NEVADA SAVANNAH SPARROW is a common but inconspicuous breed- 

 ing species throughout the valleys of eastern Oregon. It arrives in April 

 (earliest date, April 7, Wallowa County) and remains until August 

 (latest date, August 2.0). It builds its nest of dried grass in a depression 

 in the ground and deposits its eggs during May and June. Our dates for 

 full sets of eggs range from May 19 to June 19, but we have been able 

 to put all too little time on gathering nesting data. In April and May, 

 during the courtship and nest-building period, the inconspicuously marked 

 males give their wheezy little song from the top of a weed stalk or from 

 convenient fence posts about the pastures. The breeding form seems to 

 disappear early, as our latest specimen was taken August 2.0. We have a 

 representative series of fall Savannah Sparrows taken in September and 

 October in their territory, but all prove to be northern forms. 



There has been much confusion in the names of Savannah Sparrows so 

 that it is difficult to assign accurately all references in literature to the 

 forms now accepted as valid. Bendire's (1877) records of breeding birds 

 from Camp Harney certainly apply to nevadensis. Likewise the records 

 of Mearns (1879) an< ^ Merrill (1888) from Fort Klamath belong under 

 this subspecies. Willett (1919) listed it as a breeding bird at Malheur 

 Lake, and Gabrielson (192^) considered it a common resident of Wal- 

 lowa County. 



Brook's Savannah Sparrow: 



Passerculus sandwichensis brooksi Bishop 



DESCRIPTION. Smaller, but slightly darker and browner than P. s. nevadensis. Si%e: 

 Wing i.6z, tail 1.83, bill .39. Nest and eggs: Same as those of P. s. alaudinus (Plate 

 9 z, A). 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in western Washington and Oregon. Winters 

 south into California. In Oregon: Breeding form throughout Willamette Valley 

 and in coast counties, at least as far south as Coos County. 



AFTER LONG STUDY and consideration of our series of breeding Savannah 

 Sparrows from the Willamette Valley and the coast counties we are forced 

 to the conclusion that Brook's Savannah Sparrow is a valid race, despite 

 its omission from the 1931 A. O. U. Check-List. That list recognized no 



