WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 215 



542 b. WESTERN SAVANNA SPARROW. — Passer- 

 culus sandwichensis alaudinus. 



Family : The Finches, Sparrows, etc. 



Length: 4.75-5.90. 



Adults : Upper parts brownish gray, streaked with black ; the streaks in 

 sharp contrast to feather-edgings of whitish, grayish, or buffy ; crown 

 stripe and superciliary usually yellow, sometimes white. 



Young .- Similar to adults, but light markings more buffy ; under parts 

 less distinctly marked ; superciliary stripe usually without yellow, 

 and finely streaked. 



Geographical Distribution : Western North America, from Alaska south 

 in winter to Guatemala. 



California Breeding Range. : In valleys east of the Sierra Nevada re- 

 corded from Owens Lake. 



Breeding Season : May and June. 



Nest : On the ground, in meadows or other grassy places. 



Eggs : 3 to 6 ; pale brownish, varying to dull whitish or greenish white, 

 spotted with brown. Size 0.75 X 0.55. 



When on a tramp through salt marsh or upland 

 meadow you flush a sparrow-like bird, with more white 

 in its plumage than most sparrows, and with yellow 

 about the eye and on the band of the wing, you may 

 write it down tentatively as a Western Savanna Sparrow. 

 If, a little later, you find it swinging on a grass stem, 

 uttering its "weak little insect-like trill," you may be 

 sure of its identity. He is one of the hardest of all the 

 sparrow tribe to observe, and the one least apt to be dis- 

 covered by the bird-lover, because the moment he be- 

 comes aware of your presence he drops into the grass 

 and refuses to come into view. Even when flushed, his 

 flight is merely a short zigzag to the nearest cover. Yet 

 although you find so few, there are doubtless a large 



