The Large-billed Sparrows 



bird is dead in earnest, so that the difficulty experienced by the performer 

 in squeezing out the weezz note gives the listener a spasm of sympathy. 

 When the courting season is at its height, all the fairies (or, more properly, 

 exactly half of them) are talking at once; and the intrusive cow steps 

 softly so as not to miss the fun. 



Nesting is on in early April, while by May 1st most of the house- 

 holders have brought off their broods. The birds nest indifferently in 

 the shelter of the salicornia itself, or else they seek the protection of 

 larger growth hard by. A discovery is made by accident, as of some 

 bird sitting tighter than usual and flushing directly at close range. For 

 when the colony is aroused the females appear to slip away at long range, 

 and one may tramp about for an hour among forty pairs, all mildly 

 disturbed and very alert, without making a single location. When 

 flushed at close range, and knowing that she is observed, the female 

 flutters over the tops of the plants for a great distance as though seeking to 

 decoy. But if the nest is approached, she will not return nor evince 

 further interest. 



The nest is settled firmly upon the ground among interlaced stems 

 or grasses, and always under adequate cover of grass or weed. One 

 nest before me is made entirely of dried salicornia stems, lined with 

 duck feathers. Another, deeply cupped, is composed of frayed weed- 

 stems and finely woven grasses, with a single horsehair. The eggs have 

 the same variety of ground as those of the San Diego Song Sparrow, 

 and are not certainly distinguishable from them in markings; but they 

 average lighter. 



No. 43 



Large-billed Marsh Sparrow 



A. O. U. No. 544. Passerculus rostratus rostratus (Cassin). 



Description. — Adults (sexes alike): Above and on sides of hind-neck drab, 

 streaked sparingly on back with dark brown, and sharply on pileum with blackish; 

 wings margined with lighter brown (wood-brown or avellaneous); a short yellowish 

 buffy superciliary; a rictal stripe and a submalar stripe of cinnamon-brown enclosing 

 narrow malar area of white; underparts buffy white, almost immaculate on chin 

 and throat, middle of belly and on under tail-coverts; heavily streaked across breast 

 and on sides, each streak blackish brown, bordered broadly with cinnamon-brown. 

 Bill brown above, paler (yellowish brown) below; feet and legs light brown. Length 

 about 152.4 (6.00); av. of males: wing 72 (2.84); tail 53 (2.09); bill 13 (.52); depth 

 at base 7.6 (.30); tarsus 23 (.91). Females somewhat smaller. 



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