[576] BIRDS OF OREGON 



usually 4, ovate, with ground color of pale glaucous-green, the markings, which 



vary in intensity but not hue, taking the form of splotches, spots, and scrawls of 



pecan brown, usually distributed over the whole egg. (Adapted from Semple and 



Sutton.) 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in territory west of Hudson Bay from Fort Churchill 



to Artillery Lake in Mackenzie. Winters from Kansas and Missouri to Texas. In 



Oregon: Rare winter straggler, of which there are only two records. 



THE NORMAL RANGE of Harris's Sparrow is east of the Rockies, and this 

 big handsome bird can be considered only an accidental visitor to Oregon. 

 Dawson (1914^ recorded two birds taken at Medford, February i and i, 

 1911, by G. F. Hamlin, that are now in the Jewett collection. The only 

 other record is of two birds that spent several weeks in January and 

 February 1932. about the bird-feeding station at the home of Mrs. L. J. 

 Merrill, at Hillsboro, and became very tame (Plate 95, A). They were 

 viewed at close range for some time by Gabrielson, who first saw them 

 on January 2.4, 1932., and who is thoroughly familiar with the species in 

 the Missouri Valley. 



White-crowned Sparrow: 



Zonotrichia leucofhrys leucophrys (Forster) 



DESCRIPTION. "Adult male: Top and sides of head striped with black and white, 

 white median stripe usually as wide as adjoining black stripes; lores black, white 

 superciliary stripe not extending forward of eye; edge of wing white; under parts plain 

 gray; back with fore parts gray; rump brown. Adult female: like male and some- 

 times indistinguishable, but usually with median crown scripe narrower and grayer. 

 Young: like adults, but head stripes brown and buffy instead of black and white; 

 under parts buffy, and chest, sides of throat, and sides streaked. Male: length 

 (skins) 5.84-6.74, wing i. 98-3. 18, tail 1.68-3.13, bill .43-. 47. Female: length 

 (skins) 6.00-6.63, wing 1.89-3.17, tail 1.69-3.00, bill .41-. 47." (Bailey) Nest: 

 On the ground or in low bushes, made of fine twigs, rootlets, and grasses. Eggs: 

 3 to 5, pale greenish blue, spotted with warm brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in high parts of Rocky Mountains of British Colum- 

 bia, higher ranges of Oregon (east of Cascades), and California east to Wyoming 

 and New Mexico, and from tree limit in eastern Canada southward to central Mani- 

 toba and southern Quebec. Winters south into Mexico. In Oregon: Regular summer 

 resident and breeding species of higher mountains from summit of Cascades eastward . 



THERE ARE THREE subspecies of the White-crowned Sparrow found within 

 the State, two of which are breeding forms and the third an abundant 

 migrant. Z. I. leucophrys is the breeding bird along the higher summits of 

 the Cascades, through the Wallowa Mountains, the Steens Mountains, 

 Hart Mountain, in Lake County, and other similar ranges. It is most 

 abundant at about the 7,ooo-foot level, frequenting the willow and aspen 

 thickets about the boreal lakes and streams. It arrives in April (earliest 

 date, April 2.9, Wallowa County) and remains until September (latest 

 date, September 19, Harney County). 



