142 BLACK-THROATED SPARROW. 



The structure was rather large and compactly built, composed of coarse, dry grasses, 

 with an inner lining of fine yellow straw and hair of the mountain sheep. Eggs dull 

 yellowish-white, spotted and blotched with reddish-brown and lavender. "Adult male 

 and female (sexes essentially alike) with head, neck, and chest clear plumbeous, the lores 

 blackish, in strong contrast; back and scapulars hair-brown" (Ridgway). 



GuADELUPE JuNCO, Jaxco itisularis Ridgw. Inhabits Guadelupe Island, Lower 

 California. 



BaiRd's Jonco, Junco bairdi Beldixg. This species is found a resident in the 

 mountains of Lower California. 



All these birds resemble each other very much, each species being almost the exact 

 counterpart of the other. For further particulars as to size and color I refer the reader 

 to Ridgway's "Manual of North American Birds," or to Coues' "Key to North American 

 Birds." 



BLACK-THROATED SPARROW. 



Amphispha bilineata CouES. 



Plate XXIII. Fig. 4. 



jJl^HIS interesting little Sparrow inhabits the south-western part of our country from 

 liy the lower Rio Grande and western Texas to Lower California and contiguous 

 parts of Mexico, occurring north to Nevada, Utah, and western Colorado. 



According to Mr. Robert Ridgway it "was found throughout the sage-brush 

 country, the most desert tracts of which are its favorite abode. It was equally common 

 in the western depression and in the Salt Lake Valley, as well as in intermediate locali- 

 ties. Unlike the Sage Sparrow {A. belli nevadensis) , which frequents chiefly the more 

 thrifty growth of the artemisia in the damper valleys, this species prefers the arid 

 mesas, where the growth is scant and stunted; and we found it nowhere else so abun- 

 dant as on the Carson Desert, near the Soda Lakes, where much of the surface consisted 

 of loose, shifting sand. It also differs markedly from that species in being migratory, 

 being merely a summer sojourner, and one of the latest to arrive, few, if any, making 

 their appearance in the Truckee Valley before the first of May, the advance individuals 

 being noted on the l3th of that month, in 1868. Like the Sage Sparrow, this species 

 is remarkable for its peculiar song, which in pensive tone and sad expression harmonizes 

 so perfectly with its desolate surroundings. It is from this song that the Indian name, 

 Wut-tu-ze-ze, is derived, for the notes are very nearly expressed by the syllables wat', 

 wut', zeeeeee, repeated once or twice, the first two notes quick and distinct, the last one 

 a prolonged, silvery trill. Frequently a singer reverses, at each alternate repetition of 

 the song, the accent on the first and last portions, thus producing a very peculiar effect." 

 All the ornithologists who have visited the lower Rio Grande, have observed this 

 bird. Mr. Dresser found it at Matamoras, and Dr. J. C. Memll discovered nests at 



