THE OOLOGIST. 



169 



tion is correct. Very few of the fe- 

 males are sitting in the daytime, es- 

 pecially if the weather be fine and 

 "bright, and it is practically a hopeless 

 task to locate the nests by flushing 

 the bird. "Wait until the males have 

 stopped singing for the night, and 

 make sure that the females have re- 

 tired. You should have a lantern 

 with you, and when you flush the fe- 

 male it is an easy matter to find the 

 nest. We have taken as many as 13 

 sets in two evenings by following 

 this method. By walking up and 

 down a pasture, covering as much of 

 the ground as you can, you are sure 

 to flush the bird at your feet. 

 W. J. BROWN, 



Westmount, Que. 



Western Lark Sparrow. 

 (Chondestes grammacus strigatus.) 



I have been much interested of late 

 in the short notes which have been 

 appearing from time to time in the 

 Oologist with regard to the lark spar- 

 row — lark finch, as old Dr. Cooper 

 calls it, of the eastern states. 



To me the western form of this spar- 

 tow has always been one of the most 

 interesting of the small birds which, 

 during the breeding season, inhabit 

 the hills of Southern California. Dur- 

 ing the winter great flocks of these 

 sparrows make local migrations to 

 the lowlands, and are then not uncom- 

 mon about barnyards and along road- 

 sides, where weeds furnish them with 

 seed food in abundance. 



They are easily known from all the 

 other sparrows of the region (white 

 crowns, Gambel's western chipping, 

 western field, Heerman's and Sam- 

 uel's song, etc., etc.), by the white 

 border to the longer feathers of the 

 tail. These, as soon as the sparrow 

 rises in flight, spread out in a per- 

 fect fan, with a border of purest white 



visible as far as the observer will care 

 to identify them. 



At all seasons of the year, the west- 

 ern lark sparrow is a very tame bird, 

 ready and willing to hop aside from 

 the road to let you pass and no more, 

 so that if you are gentle with him in 

 the roadways to the barn and down 

 through the orange orchard your 

 chances of getting quite well ac- 

 quainted with him are most excell- 

 ent as far as his disposition is con- 

 cerned. 



During the breeding season, which 

 begins in the first part of April, and 

 ends rather indefinitely during July 

 or August, the birds are a trifle more 

 wary. 



At this time of the year they min- 

 gle with the Mexican Horned Larks 

 (Otocoris alpestris chrysolaema) out 

 on the mesas and along the slopes of 

 the adobe hills. They never seem to 

 become really familiar with the larks, 

 merely mingling among them in scat- 

 tered pairs, where the hills present 

 suitable conditions for their nest- 

 making. 



Mexican Horned Larks will build 

 their nest in a cow or horse track out 

 on the level mesa with not a weed or 

 a shrub near, but the lark sparrows 

 as a rule, prefer the shelter of a 

 shrub, where their home is not so 

 likely to get tramped on by wander- 

 ing cattle or even by people passing 

 to and fro. 



The lark sparrow, however does not 

 nest on the ground from preference, 

 but solely from necessity. Around the 

 ranches, where these interesting birds 

 are becoming more common every 

 year, they choose forks in the branch- 

 es of orange, lemon, peach, pear, apri- 

 cot, apple, almond and prune trees. 

 I have never found a nest of this spar- 

 row in pepper, cypress or walnut 

 trees, though these are as common 

 throughout the farming section of 



