The Western Lark Sparrow 



orioles, and rare examples are handsomely mottled, or partially veiled, with liver- 

 brown. Av. of 45 California-taken specimens in the M. C. O. coll.: 20.3 x 15.7 (.80 

 x .62). Season: April 15 to June 30: one or two broods. 



Range of Chondestes grammacus. — North America from the Pacific Coast east, 

 regularly to Ohio and Tennessee, casually to the Atlantic seaboard, north to central 

 British Columbia and Saskatchewan, south over the Mexican plateau and, in winter, 

 through Lower California and southern Mexico to Guatemala. 



Range of C. g. strigatus. — As above, save that eastern boundary roughly coin- 

 cides with that of the Great Plains. 



Distribution in California. — Resident throughout the State in the Upper 

 Sonoran life zone, but chiefly in the interior valleys west of the Sierras; found sparingly 

 in Lower Transition (San Jacinto Mountains, alt. 6300, June 3, 1913; Humboldt 

 County, June 14, 1916), and descending casually within the upper limits of Lower 

 Sonoran (Palm Springs, May 27, 1913; Mohave Desert, near Palmdale, May 16, 

 1919; Indian Wells, Inyo County, May 19, 1919). Seasonal redistribution imper- 

 fectly made out; local population is possibly stationary, but entire State is lightly 

 swept by northern migrants which reinforce local populations, or deploy over deserts. 



Authorities. — Heermann (Emberiza grammica), Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 

 ser. 2, vol. ii., 1893, p. 265; Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. ix., 1858, pp. 456-457 

 (crit. ; meas.) ; Coale, Bull. Ridgway Orn. Club, vol. ii., 1887, pp. 24-25 (crit.) ; Atkinson, 

 Oologist, vol. xvii., 1900, pp. 105-107 (life hist.); J add, Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 15, 1901, 

 pp. 66-68 (part) (food); Tyler, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 9, 1913, pp. 79-81. 



Taken in Ventura County ^^^^^■■■■UMI^^^^^^^ Photo by Donald R. Dickey 



CONFIDENCE ESTABLISHED 



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