CLAY-COLORED SPARROW. 



561. Splzella pallida. S l /2 inches. 



No reddish brown in plumage; crown blackish with 

 a dull white stripe in the middle. 



A quite abundant bird on the plains of northern 

 middle U. S. and northward through Manitoba to Sas- 

 katchewan. They have the same habits as the Chip- 

 ping Sparrow, and build hair-lined nests like those of 

 the latter birds, but the outside is usually of grass 

 rather than -the black rootlets commonly used by the 

 Chippy. They frequent rather open ground covered 

 with bushes, vines, rose bushes or small spruces. 



Song. Cannot be distinguished from that of the 

 Chipping Sparrow. 



Nest. Of grasses, lined with horse hair; the three 

 or four eggs are bluish green, specked about the large 

 end with brown, the marking not averaging as black 

 as those of the Chippy. 



Range. Plains of the interior of N. A., breeding 

 from northern Illinois and Colorado northward to Sas- 

 katchewan; winters south into Mexico. 



