The Belding Marsh Sparrow 



and, most of all, the twinkling eye, which tells not of taxonomic secrets — 

 most trifling of all — but of a merry life, rich in experience and high 

 adventure, and not unacquainted with passion. 



Belding Sparrows colonize, rather closely, at nesting time — a certain 

 five-acre stretch at Sandyland harbors about twenty pairs in April — 

 and at all seasons the birds know where their fellows are. At the close 

 of the nesting season the Sparrows deploy more widely through the more 

 elevated weedy stretches which surround the marshes proper, or take up 

 their station in the sand dunes, where they may Welcome the return of 

 Pipit, most indefatigable of beach-combers, or of Audubon Warbler, 

 gayest of beach-haunt- 

 ing tourists. At such 

 times, also, they invade 

 the beaches proper, nim- 

 bly pursuing the kelp- 

 flies, or snatching salty 

 comfits from the wet 

 sand. The approach of 

 a stranger, however, re- 

 calls the impropriety of 

 such a course. There 

 may be a little hiding 

 and sulking behind 

 driftwood or stranded 

 kelp-roots, but a mo- 

 ment's reflection sends 

 them bolting for cover 

 in the beloved weeds. 



Not all ears may hear 

 the humble "chip" with 

 which the birds keep in 

 touch, and the song, 

 here possibly first de- 

 scribed, is so insect-like, 

 that one despairs of 

 persuading his friends to 

 attend its trivial course. 

 For an ear keyed high 

 the bird says, tsit tsit tsu 

 weezz tsit tsit, and though 

 a mouse could put it to 

 shame as a vocalist, the 



Taken in San Diego County 



Photo by Donald R. Dickey 



258 



NEST AND EGGS OF BELDING MARSH SPARROW 



