LABK SPAREOW 445 



are chestnut, separated and bordered by bntfy white. There is a large 

 patch of chestnut on the ear region of this bird ; on the white face, extend- 

 ing backward from the bill on each side, are three lines of black. The 

 otherwise white under surface has a single small rounded black spot low 

 on the breast. 



But the lark sparrow's most prominent feature is its tail. On each 

 tail feather, excepting the middle pair, there is an extensive terminal spot 

 of white and these spots increase in size from the center outward so that 

 the outermost feather is almost entirely white. (See fig. 54a..) The tail 

 instead of being square-ended, as is that of most sparrows, is rounded; 

 furthermore, it is a marked trait of the bird to spread the tail widely when 

 it flies up from the ground and often even while perching quietly. The 

 two sexes are alike ; but the young, in juvenal dress, differ from the adults 

 in having the throat and breast narrowly streaked with brownish black, 

 and the pattern on the head less sharply contrasted. 



The song of the male lark sparrow is not one that can be readily ex- 

 pressed in syllables ; and so, beyond giving some of the general character- 

 istics of the song, we must leave the reader to analyze it farther for himself. 

 There are certain 'words' or 'phrases' and the stringing together of these, 

 in varying sequence, constitutes the song. The latter is therefore not a set 

 utterance such as is given by so many birds. One recognizes the lark 

 sparrow's song by this irregular combination of soft notes, trills, and 

 buzzing or purring notes, by its varying intensity, and by its long con- 

 tinuance. Few if any other local birds sing so incessantly as the lark 

 sparrow. Many of its individual songs last for a minute or more, and 

 during the late spring and early summer the male birds sing through most 

 of the daylight hours. The song, even at best, lacks carrying power; to 

 an auditor at a distance the song seems alternately to die away and to 

 revive. At close range the song is heard to be continuous, but increases 

 and decreases in loudness with every few notes. The lark sparrow often 

 sings until late dusk and on several occasions we have heard it give a few 

 bars long after nightfall. 



By May the Western Lark Sparrows are busying themselves with nest- 

 ing affairs and in June the young begin to appear abroad. At Snelling 

 on May 27, 1915, an adult bird was seen carrying nesting material, and 

 others behaved as though their headquarters were already well established. 

 At Pleasant Valley on May 28, 1915, a nest wnth four eggs w^as discovered 

 at the base of a yerba santa bush on a dry sun-heated hillside. Near the 

 McCarthy ranch, 3 miles east of Coulterville, on June 2, 1915, another 

 nest was found. This last nest had been placed on the ground on a gentle 

 hillslope, in a spot sheltered by an accumulation of cones and branches 

 from the yellow pines above. When first seen the nest held four eggs and 



