1913 BIRDS OF THE FRESNO DISTRICT 85 



time permit its owner to remain near water. I have found nests in thick bunches 

 of grass not three inches above the water, and at other times ten feet up in willow 

 trees, but the typical nests are built among willow shoots along smaller canals, 

 where they average from one to four feet above the ground. Dried willow 

 leaves enter largely into the composition of these frail nests ; the lining is almost 

 invariably of dried, round, grass stems. Four greenish, brown-spotted 

 eggs are laid unless it be late in the season, when sets of three are not infrequent- 

 ly seen. 



FoRBusH Sparrow . Melospiza lincolni striata Brewster. 



These interesting little sparrows have been detected at only two points in 

 this region. In The Condor (xiii, 191 i, p. 76) T recorded the taking of a speci- 

 men near Clovis on December 26, 1910; and Mr. Grinnell has recorded them in 

 the same pubHcation (Condor, xiii, 191 t, p. in) as occurring near Lanes 

 Bridge April 9 and 10, 191 1. At the latter place I had some slight chance to ob- 

 serve them but they proved very shy. They were frequenting a marshy place at the 

 base of a hill, the lower slope of which was covered with a thick growth of hoar- 

 hound bushes. At the slightest disturbance these birds and a few Heermann 

 Song Sparrov^s that shared the marsh with them, v/ould betake themselves to 

 this weed patch, and dive in at full speed. Sometimes when I had marked the ex- 

 act spot where one of these birds disappeared, I would attempt to flush it bv hur- 

 riedly tramping through the brush, guided by an occasional glimpse of the spar- 

 row as he sneaked along ahead of me ; but generally the birds could outdistance 

 me, and it required no little exertion on my part to get them to take wing again. 

 When we retreated some distance and quiet reigned again, the little sparrows 

 could be seen dropping in short quick flights down into the swamp. 



If the form lincolni occurs in this region it has not yet been detected, so far 

 as I am aware. 



Slate-colored Fox Sparrow. Passerella iliaca schistacea Baird. 



Slate-colored Sparrows appear to be of regular occurrence in very limited 

 numbers during the early winter, especially from late C>ctobcr until the lasi of 

 December, when they disappear or are rendered inconspicuous by the appearance 

 of not a few of the larger form, insnlaris. Until more evidence is brought to 

 light I do not think we would be warranted in rating this sparrow as a winter 

 resident, and I am inclined to believe that the birds merely tarry here for a 

 month or more on their way to their winter home. The difiiculty of identifying 

 with certainty, in the field, the two or three forms of fox sparrows that occur in 

 Fresno County during the winter, has caused me to hesitate to give any definite 

 dates for the arrival or departure of these birds. No doubt a little more sys- 

 tematic work would bring to light a number of interesting facts regarding tiieir 

 distribution in this part of the valley. 



November 20, 19 10, Mr. Joseph Sloanaker and myself observed two small 

 fox sparrows in Roeding Park, and watched them for some time as they scratched 

 among the leaves within ten or fifteen feet of where we were concealed, l^our 

 days later I saw another of what I felt certain was the same species, in a big- 

 brush pile at the edge of a weedy pasture near Clovis. This last bird was added 



