BELL SPABROW 465 



In 1914 and 1915 we saw but little of the Bell Sparrow, and that only 

 incidentally, as we were endeavoring to get a general idea of the fauna in 

 the vicinity of El Portal and Pleasant Valley ; but in 1919 some time was 

 spent at Blacks Creek, west of Coulterville, in seeking a special acquaint- 

 ance with this species. To do this we left the beaten roadway and grassy 

 clearings and pushed our way up onto the slopes covered solidly with 

 greasewood. Here we followed a growth of young bushes which had sprung 

 up where once a narrow clearing had been made for miles across the 

 country beneath a power line. Our field notes of this day, May 12, 1919, 

 are substantially as follows. 



The hillside was a dry, south-facing one, of slaty formation covered 

 Avith a typical California chaparral composed of greasewood {Adenostoma 

 fasciculutum) with scattering bushes of wedge-leafed ceanothus (Ceanothus 

 cuneatus) and manzanita {Arctostaplnjlos mariposa). Here a Bell Spar- 

 row was found, its headquarters pro\dng to be on a subsidiary ridge 

 running down into an oak lined ravine. We located the bird first by 

 hearing from a distance its tinkling song. This may be variously written, 

 inkseJy-inksely-inkselij-ser, or tweesitity-slip, twecsitity-slip, swer, or 

 sweesely-siver, sweeseJy-siver, swer, according to different attempts at 

 transcription. The rhythm of this utterance was notable. The bird sang 

 every 9 or 10 seconds, each song lasting about 2i/2 seconds. The song 

 would be repeated for several minutes from one perch and then the bird 

 would change to another location. It would perch on the topmost shoot 

 of a greasewood bush, facing away from the wind, its feathers blown out- 

 ward somewhat, and would rock back and forth in keeping its balance 

 on the swaying twig. This individual bird seemed to be centering his 

 attentions on some particular portion of the hillslope, for he circled about 

 Avithin a radius of not over 150 feet, singing from one perch, then changing 

 to another. Between song periods he would disappear, presumably to 

 forage, within the mantle of brush, where also probably was his mate, 

 though she kept well out of our sight. 



Searching around amid the smaller greasewood bushes on the one-time 

 clearing, we found 8 old nests belonging undoubtedly to this species. These 

 ranged from 6 to 30 inches above the ground, but most of them were not 

 more than 10 inches up. All were in small greasewood bushes, not over 

 24 inches tall, and placed within the cluster of upright stems. The nests 

 were composed of small twigs of the greasewood, with the dry whitish stems 

 of some annual plant as a felting for the interior. A typical weathered 

 nest measured approximately 3 inches in outside diameter. So large a 

 number of nests found in the one area (not over 150 feet in diameter) 

 would suggest continued occupancy of the little tract of an acre or so for 

 a number of years by this one pair of birds or their ancestors. 



