[566] BIRDS OF OREGON 



streaked narrowly but clearly; outer web of lateral tail feather white. Young: like 

 adults but upper parts and chest streaked, and wings with two buffy bands. Male: 

 length (skins) 5.50-6.10, wing 3.05-3.10, tail 1.78-3.09, bill .37-. 41. Female: 

 length (skins) 5.40-6.10, wing 1.85-3.15, tail 1.65-1.98, bill .37-. 41." (Bailey) 

 Nest: In low bushes and brush, largely of strips of sagebrush bark and fine grasses. 

 Eggs: 3 or 4, greenish to grayish white, speckled around larger end with brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in Great Basin from central Washington, central 

 Idaho, southwestern Montana, and western Colorado south to southern Nevada, 

 Utah, and northern New Mexico. Winters south into Mexico. In Oregon: Com- 

 mon summer resident and breeding species of sagebrush areas of eastern Oregon. 

 May occasionally winter along Columbia River, as we have one record for January 

 14 at Umatilla. One record only for western Oregon. 



To THINK of the Northern Sage Sparrow brings to mind the sage-covered 

 sand areas of northern Morrow County, the Fort Rock and Silver Lake 

 area of northern Lake County, and the great valleys of the Silvies and 

 Blitzen Rivers of Harney County, for this is typically a sagebrush bird, 

 its soft coloration blending into the gray landscape so perfectly that it 

 is difficult to detect so long as it remains motionless. Its habit of mount- 

 ing the topmost twig of a sagebrush, however, to sing its tinkling little 

 refrain, twitching its long black tail all the while, offers an opportunity 

 to view this little desert dweller to good advantage. In common with 

 most other brush-inhabiting species, it has an almost uncanny ability 

 to slip from one bush to another, keeping out of sight of an intruder as 

 it does so. 



It nests in the sagebrush areas, usually building on the ground at the 

 base of a sage plant or on a low elevation in the bushes, where it lays 

 three or four eggs in a neat nest of shredded sagebrush bark and grass. 

 Dates on which nests containing fresh eggs have been found vary from 

 April 5 to May 13, depending somewhat on the elevation. The earliest 

 dates are for the sage areas along the Columbia River near Boardman, 

 and the later nests are found on the high sage plateaus of the southeastern 

 part of the State. A. J. Knoblock found a nest containing five young, 

 March 2.9, 1934, in the area south of Boardman. That season was one 

 that will long be remembered as the year almost without a winter. Wild 

 flowers were in abundant bloom in late January, and this pair of sage 

 sparrows evidently took advantage of the abnormal temperature condi- 

 tions to nest at least a month ahead of time. 



There is one straggler recorded from Portland, where on February 18 

 and 19, 1914, Jewett watched one from a distance of less than 2.0 feet in 

 the Sellwood district. An east wind had been blowing for several days 

 a condition that often caused a drift of eastern Oregon birds down the 

 Columbia to the vicinity of Portland. This record and one on January 

 14 near Umatilla indicate that the birds winter at least rarely. 



The Sage Sparrow has been known from Oregon since Bendire (Brewer 

 1875) found it breeding near Camp Harney, although little has been 



