Jov. , 1907 



A NEW BREEDING BIRD FOR COtORADO 



193 



During the three weeks following the date upon which the nest was found we 

 paid especial attention to the sparrows observed, and on each of the three trips 

 over the section surrounding the nesting site we were fortunate enough to see sev- 

 eral of the birds, only one of which was taken however, as in every other instance 

 save this one we were positive of our identity without taking the birds. It is prac- 

 tically impossible to derive any deductions from our observations as to whether the 

 bird occurs regularly or whether we simply happened on to a community of them, 

 but we are positive that we saw at least a dozen individuals in a radius of two miles 

 surrounding the spot where the nest was found. 



On one occasion Mr. Hersey saw one of the birds going thru their character- 

 istic performance of rising perpendicularly into the air and slowly descending in 

 full song. Dr. Heermann in speaking of this peculiarity of the species describes 

 it as rising with a tremulous motion of its wings some twenty feet or more and 

 then descending again in the same manner to within a few yards of the spot whence 

 it started and accompanying its entire flight with a lengthened and pleasing song. 

 This peculiarity, while men- 

 tioned by nearly all authori- 

 ties, was seen by us only 

 once, probably on account of 

 the lateness of the season. 



Prof. W. W. Cooke in his 

 Second Appendix to The Birds 

 of CoIo7'ado, in speaking of 

 the habitat of this species, 

 quotes from the A. O.U. Check- 

 list, as follows: "Central and 

 Western Kansas, southward 

 and westward thru Texas, 

 New Mexico, Arizona and 

 Southern Nevada," and fur- 

 ther says: "it would be diffi- 

 cult to have a bird a rather 

 common summer resident over 

 the west half of Kansas, also 

 common in New Mexico at 

 the same season, and not have 

 it occur in southeastern Colo- 

 rado; but up to the present time (1900) no one has found it in the state." 



This surmise was later verified by Mr. E. R. Warren who published the fol- 

 lowing, which is an extract from "A Collecting Trip in Southeastern Colorado" 

 (Condor Vol. VIII, No. 1; January, 1906). Under the heading of Cassin Spar- 

 row, he says, "A specimen of this species was taken May 27th near Springfield 

 [Baca County]. The bird was on a wire fence near Cat Creek south of the town. 

 Its breast was quite bare of feathers so that it may have been incubating." 



Col. N. S. Goss in his Histoiy of the Birds of Kansas classes it as "Summer 

 resident; in the middle and western part of the state, common. Arrives about the 

 middle of May, begins laying early in June and leaves in September." 



These statements seem to establish the fact beyond question that the extreme 

 northwestern limit of the Cassin Sparrow as it is known at present, is the western 

 boundary of Kansas, but the above records for Colorado and the finding of nest 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE CASSIN SPARROW 



