FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 343 



brown bordered above and below by narrow blackish streak ; malar region 

 whitish, bordered below by dusky streak along- side of throat ; hind neck 

 gray, narrowly streaked; back and scapulars brown, broadly streaked 

 with black ; wing bars buffy ; under parts whitish, washed with brown on 

 chest and sides. Adults in winter : crown streaks narrower, and plumage 

 more buffy. Young : upper parts buffy or clay-colored ; chest and sides 

 buffy, streaked with black. Male: length (skins) 4.64-5.41, wing 2.34- 

 2.49, tail 2.18-2.44, bill .S4.-.39. Female: length (skins) 4.64-5.25, wing 

 2.28-2.51, tail 2.08-2.40, bill .S5-.39. 



Remarks. The clay-colored and the Brewer sparrow both have 

 streaked upper parts, but the clay-colored has a median crown stripe and 

 plain gray hind neck, while the Brewer is uniformly streaked on head, 

 neck, and back. 



Distribution. Breeds in Transition and Canadian zone from the Sas- 

 katchewan plains south to Iowa and Nebraska and from Illinois west to 

 western Montana ; migrates south to Lower California and southern end of 

 Mexican tablelands. 



Nest. In bushes in open situations. Eggs : usually 4, light greenish 

 blue, speckled chiefly around the larger end with brown. 



The clay-colored sparrow is said to be almost exclusively terres- 

 trial, though during the nesting season the males sing from the tops 

 of bushes almost continually. The song Coues gives as three notes 

 and a slight trill. Along the Red River in Dakota, he says, they 

 nest in "open low underbrush by the river side and among the 

 innumerable scrub- willow copses of the valley." 



562. Spizella brewer! Cass. BREWER SPARROW. 



Adults. Entire upper parts streaked with black on grayish brown 

 ground ; under parts soiled grayish. In 

 winter, similar but more buffy. Young: 

 like adults, but chest and sides streaked, 

 streaks of upper parts broader and less 

 sharply defined, and wings with two dis- 

 tinct bands. Male: length (skins) 4.74- 

 5.13, wing 2.37-2.59, tail 2.26-2.44, bill .34- 

 .35. Female: length (skins) 4.60-5.19, 

 wing 2.20-2.59, tail 2.26-2.50, bill .S4-.36. 



Distribution. Breeds in Transition zone _,. . 



sagebrush from British Columbia south to 



southern Arizona, and from western Nebraska and western Texas to the 

 Pacific coast ; south in winter along the western border of the Mexican 

 tablelands. 



Nest. In sagebrush, made of fine grass stems and leaves, lined with 

 long horsehairs. Eggs : usually 4, and generally like those of the clay- 

 colored sparrow, but more distinctly marked. 



The Brewer sparrow, known locally as the sagebrush chippie, is 

 marked down as an ' arid transition ' species, and, true to his zonal 

 colors, if any arid transition sagebrush strays to the sunny side of a 

 high mountain ridge he will appear there with it, though his normal 

 home is in the bottom of a desert. We once found him singing at 

 8400 feet on the snowy crest of the Sierra, but on the sunny slope 

 below was the inevitable sage. 



