GROSBEAKS, FINCHES, SPARROWS: Family Fringillidae [589] 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in south-central Oregon and northeastern Cali- 

 fornia. Winters south into Lower California. In Oregon: Breeds in higher sage- 

 covered ranges of southern Harney and Lake Counties and through yellow-pine area 

 of western Lake and all of Klamath County and from there northward along eastern 

 slope of Cascades to Columbia River. (See Figure 19.) 



THE WARNER MOUNTAINS Fox SPARROW is the breeding form of Fox Spar- 

 row in south-central Oregon first described by Swarth (1910), who at 

 that time listed specimens from nine Oregon localities. It is a common 

 and characteristic bird of the Steens, Hart, and Warner Mountains and 

 a very abundant inhabitant of the Ceanothus thickets of the yellow-pine 

 belt from Keno to the vicinity of Sisters. North of there it becomes less 

 common but is still present to the breaks of the Columbia River south of 

 Bend during May and June. It arrives in April and remains until October 

 (earliest date, March 2.5; latest, October 18, both Wasco County). 



In the early morning one may stop a car anywhere in the yellow pine 

 and be almost certain to hear the rich full song of this soft-plumaged 

 chorister, but the bird itself is difficult to see if one moves about, as it 

 keeps ahead by flitting from one bush to another. By remaining motion- 

 less for a time one has a better chance, as the quarry, forgetting the 

 intruder, mounts to the topmost twig of the bush to pour out its song. 



On May 18, 192.4, Jewett collected a set of three eggs in the Warner 

 Mountains. This nest was located in the lower stems of a dense willow 

 clump. A second nest, found May 2.5, 192.7, on Hart Mountain, was 

 ready for eggs, though surrounded by snow a foot in depth. 



Yosemite Fox Sparrow: 



Passerella iliaca mariposae Swarth 



DESCRIPTION. A member of the gray group, with a longer tail and a heavier bill 

 than the other gray races in Oregon. (Adapted from Swarth.) Si^e: Wing 3.02.- 

 3.32., tail 3.ZI-3.42., bill .45-. 52.. Nest and eggs: Similar to those of P. i. schistacea. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Siskiyous and western slope of Cascades of 

 southern Oregon south to Inyo County, California. Winters in southern Cali- 

 fornia. In Oregon: Breeds on western slope of Cascades in Jackson County and in 

 Siskiyous of Jackson and Josephine Counties. (See Figure 19.) 



THIS BREEDING FORM of Fox Sparrow, the Yosemite Fox Sparrow, was 

 first recorded by Gabrielson (192.30), who found it common on Robin- 

 son's Butte and adjacent points on the western slope of the Cascades in 

 Jackson County, June 13, 1911. An adult male collected at the time was 

 variously identified as mari-posae and mariposae Xfulva by different authori- 

 ties. Subsequently Gabrielson found summer resident Fox Sparrows in 

 the Oregon Siskiyous from Ashland Butte to Greyback Mountain, but 

 no opportunity to collect specimens occurred until July n, 1933, when 

 the authors were together camped on the Oregon-California line on the 



