GROSBEAKS, FINCHES, SPARROWS: Family Fringillidae [573] 



bushes, of dried grass and feathers. Eggs: 3 to 5, pale greenish blue to brownish, 

 speckled with warm brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Bering Sea and Point Barrow east to Anderson 

 River and south in mountains to British Columbia. Winters south to New Mexico 

 and Texas. In Oregon: Irregular winter resident. 



WE DO NOT consider the Western Tree Sparrow an abundant bird in Ore- 

 gon, nor do published records for the State indicate that others have 

 found it in great numbers. It is an irregular winter resident that reaches 

 Oregon in October (earliest record, October 2.3, Lake County) and remains 

 until March (our latest record, March 14, Baker County). Bendire 

 (Brewer 1875) reported it at Camp Harney between November 14 and 

 December 5, listed it as moderately abundant there as a winter bird 

 (Bendire 1877), and recorded a specimen seen there on February 5, 1875 

 (Bendire i888b). Henshaw (1879) recorded it from The Dalles. After 

 Bendire's (1888) publication it was not again mentioned in Oregon 

 literature until Woodcock (1902.) in his list of the birds of the State 

 quoted Bendire's (1877) record but added nothing to it. Grinnell (i9Oia) 

 published a record from Newport of a bird taken, April 9, 1901, by B. J. 

 Bretherton, not only the latest date for the species in the State but also 

 the only authentic record from west of the Cascades. The next pub- 

 lished mention of the species in Oregon ornithological literature was 

 Gabrielson's record from Wallowa County. 



This brings us down to our own information, which is meager enough. 

 In view of the infrequent appearance of this sparrow, we list the follow- 

 ing records, all substantiated by specimens collected: Two specimens, 

 Hermiston (December 10, 1916, Jewett); two specimens, Enterprise (Feb- 

 ruary 18, 1919, Jewett and Gabrielson); one specimen, Adel, Lake County 

 (October 2.3, 192.6, Gabrielson); three specimens, Ontario (two December 

 15, 19x6; one January 4, 192.7, Jewett); and one specimen, Keating, Baker 

 County (March 14, 192.9, Jewett). 



Almost invariably these birds are found in Oregon about small willow 

 patches, either about springs or creek bottoms. They are usually solitary 

 birds, or at most occur in groups of three or four, and are neither as noisy 

 nor as abundant as the Tree Sparrows of the Eastern States. Their quiet 

 ways render them difficult of detection, and it is possible that they often 

 escape notice and are in fact more abundant than the above records 

 indicate. 



Western Chipping Sparrow: 



Sfi%flla fasserina arizpnae Coues 



DESCRIPTION. "Adults in summer: Bill black; top of head rufous, sometimes with 

 indication of ashy median line and dark streaking; forehead blackish, cut by median 

 white line; superciliary stripe white or grayish, bordered below by narrow black 



