The Savanna Sparrows 



coastal counties, consorts freely with local Lark Sparrows, skulks about 

 in meadows or stubble fields, and joins in the chorus of springtime only 

 when it is on the point of departure for the Willamette or Puget Sound. 



Mr. Bowles finds that eggs may not be looked for in the vicinity of 

 Tacoma before the first week in May, and they are not certainly found 

 before the middle of that month. Open prairie is most frequently 

 selected for a site, and its close-cropped mossy surface often requires 

 considerable ingenuity of concealment on the bird's part. Ploughed 

 ground, where undisturbed, is eagerly utilized. At other times a shallow 

 cup is scraped at the base of a small fern, or the protection of a fallen 

 limb is sought. 



The eggs, from three to five in number, are perhaps the most hand- 

 somely, certainly the most quaintly marked of any in the sparrow family. 

 The ground-color is grayish white; and this, in addition to sundry freck- 

 lings and cloudings of lavender, is spotted, blotched, and scrawled, with 

 old chestnut. 



The female sits closely, and sometimes will not leave the nest until 

 removed. She seldom flies, at that, but steps off and trips along the 

 ground for some distance. Then she walks about uneasily or pretends 

 to feed, venturing little expression of concern. Curiously, her liege lord 

 never appears in defense of his home, but after the young are hatched 

 he does his fair share in feeding them. 



No. 41 



Savanna Sparrow 



No. 41 Aleutian Savanna Sparrow 



A. O. U. No. 542. Passerculus sandwichensis sandwichensis (Gmelin). 



Synonyms. — Larger Savanna Sparrow. Sandwich Sparrow. 



Description. — Adults: General tone of upper plumage grayish brown — the 

 feathers blackish centrally, with much edging of grayish brown (sometimes bay), 

 flaxen, and whitish; an ill-defined mesial crown-stripe dull buffy, or tinged anteriorly 

 with yellowish; lateral stripes blackish, with grayish brown edging reduced; a broad 

 superciliary stripe yellow, clearest over lore, paling posteriorly; cheeks buffy with some 

 mingling and outcropping of dusky; underparts whitish, clearest on throat, washed 

 with buffy on sides, heavily and sharply streaked on sides of throat, breast, sides, 

 flanks and thighs with dusky; streaks nearly confluent on sides of throat, thus defining 

 submalar area of whitish; streaks darkest and wedge-shaped on breast, more diffused 

 and edged with buffy posteriorly; under tail-coverts usually but not always with con- 

 cealed wedge-shaped streaks of dusky. Bill dusky or dull horn-color above, lighter 

 below; feet palest; iris dark brown. Immature birds are brighter; the yellow, usually 



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