Sept. 1907 



RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY 



159 



All I could do was to recross the gulch and wait. Another half-hour of blaz- 

 ing heat and my sparrows came over the hill and alighted in the same bush as they 

 had done on their former visit. I waited to make sure that these were my birds 

 and while doing so saw their first performance entirely repeated. This time, how- 

 ever, I had better success for I secured the female just after she left the nest, 

 proving the species to be the Rufous-crowned Sparrow {Ainiophila ruflceps). 

 Dissection showed the set to be complete. 



The eggs, upon blowing, proved to be slightly incubated and also had a very 

 distinct bluish color, spoken of by the late Chester Barlow (Condor, Vol. IV, page 

 109). In fact they were nearly as blue as Arkansas Goldfinch eggs but have since 

 faded considerably even tho kept in the dark. They measure as follows: .74x.61, 

 .74x62, .71x62 inches. 



The nest was placed at the foot of a bank which was about a foot high. A 

 small bush which had grown on top of the ledge had died and fallen over making 











NEST AND EGGS OF RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW 



a miniature brush pile. Into this the birds had broken their way using the fine 

 twigs of the bush as a foundation for the nest. This mat of twigs was nearly two 

 inches wide on the front side of the nest and entirely lacking where the nest 

 touched the bank. The nest itself was made of very fine dry yellow grass with 

 considerable black horse hair in the lining. The inside dimensions of the nest are 

 one and a half inches deep by two and three-quarter inches across. The mat of 

 twigs around the exposed edges was so interwoven with the surrounding bush that 

 it was hard to tell exactly where the nest began. 



I^ast year a friend collected a set of four eggs of this species near San Diego, 

 on May 13, in which incubation was complete in three, the fourth being addled. 

 The nest was on the ground and made entirely of grass. The eggs were slightly 

 larger than the set just described and a very much paler blue. 



Escondido, California. 



