GROSBEAKS, FINCHES, SPARROWS: Family Fringillidae [579] 



Puget Sound Sparrow: 



Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensis Grinnell 



DESCRIPTION. "Adults: Like leucophrys, but lores not black and superciliary stripe 

 extending to bill; median crown stripe usually narrower than lateral stripes, edge 

 of wing yellow, and adults with upper parts brown instead of gray, streakings dark 

 brown or blackish, and under parts brownish gray. Young: ground color of upper parts 

 light buffy olive; under parts pale yellowish." (Description ofnuttalli, Bailey.) 

 Si%e: wing i. 91, tail 1.84, bill .42.. Nest and eggs: Same as those of Z. /. leucophrys 

 (Plate 96). 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in Pacific Coast belt from Vancouver Island and 

 southern British Columbia south to Mendocino County, California. Winters south 

 to southern California. In Oregon: Common summer resident and breeding species 

 and less common but regular winter resident from Cascades to Pacific. 



THE PUGET SOUND SPARROW (Plate 95, 5), or Nuttall's Sparrow, as it was 

 formerly known, is one of the common breeding species of western Oregon 

 from the Cascades to the Pacific. Johnson (1880), who reported Gambel's 

 Sparrow as a common breeder in the Willamette Valley, published the 

 first record that can definitely be referred to this form, although some of 

 Suckley's (Cooper and Suckley 1860) records from The Dalles may have 

 been of this subspecies. Since that date there have been many published 

 records of it, particularly from western Oregon. It is most abundant from 

 about April i to October i but is a regular resident of the entire western 

 district during the winter also. At that season it withdraws from the 

 mountains and is more common in the valleys of southern Oregon than 

 in those to the north, although it may be found in limited numbers 

 almost anywhere in the western part of the State. In summer it is one 

 of the common birds of the fence rows and dooryards, where its cheery 

 whistled song is heard not only through the day but often into the night. 

 It is one of the most persistent night singers, in fact, among our resident 

 birds and causes much inquiry as to the identity of the nocturnal vocalist. 



The nests are usually placed near the ground on low bushes and con- 

 tain eggs in May or June. Our earliest date for eggs is May 5 and our 

 latest, June 6, although we have records of newly hatched young as late 

 as June 2.8. 



The Puget Sound Sparrows are essentially ground birds, feeding in the 

 thickets or weed patches or close enough to their edges to make a quick 

 dash for the safety of their shelters to escape danger. During migration 

 they frequent weedy fence rows, feeding along the roadsides so abun- 

 dantly that an early morning drive along country roads is a continual 

 passage through small brown forms dashing for the sheltering weeds and 

 shrubbery. Many other sparrows and often numerous Audubon's Warb- 

 lers are intermingled in these migrating companies, although the present 

 form and the Golden-crowned Sparrows are by far the most numerous. 



