The Western Grasshopper Sparrow 



But with the possible exception of certain Warblers, there is no other 

 bird of anything like the abundance of this one, whose very outline is so 

 nearly unknown to all but the experienced bird-watcher. Its coloration 

 is the plainest possible, its station lowly, and its habits secretive. Perched 

 upon some weed-top, or standing on a fence-rail, the male sends out at 

 regular intervals a weak hissing trill which occupies a fraction over a 

 second in delivery. The sound is not exactly like that of any known 

 insect, but is comparable to the clicking of a locust — or better, to the 

 shrilling of the corydalis. Again, the opening and closing of a loud-ticking 

 watch, especially if it be opened with a clatter and shut with a snap, 

 is suggestive of the strange performance. Later in the season a longer 

 effort is sometimes heard. First comes the full 'chirr,' then slow notes, 

 three or four in number, as though the progress of the 'wheels' was 

 somewhat impeded ; after which the burr proceeds with the original or 

 accelerated rapidity — the whole occupying three seconds. The song will 

 carry a hundred yards for a sharp ear, or further if the ear be laid to the 

 ground; but a fresh cold in the head will spoil the concert at thirty feet. 



"Only once did I see a Grasshopper Sparrow holding forth from 

 the top of a tall sapling in a fence-row. Surely he must have atoned 

 for his boldness by skulking among the grass roots for two days there- 

 after. The birds require to be nearly stepped upon — technically 'kicked 

 out' — before they will take wing. Some will move off in a flurried 

 zig-zag, but others with a direct buzzing flight like a bee, — in both cases 

 to plump down into the weeds at no great distance." (The Birds of 

 Ohio). 



The foregoing account applies equally well to the western form of 

 the Grasshopper Sparrow, which is merely a little paler and differently 

 proportioned. But something remains to be said of the highly irregular 

 distribution of the western bird in the breeding season. It is common 

 only in the "San Diegan district," a faunal area which embraces Ventura 

 and Santa Barbara; and even here it is very sharply localized, being 

 found in some low-lying meadow, or again in an upland pasture, and not 

 occurring again for a dozen miles. In the State at large one might 

 travel a hundred miles without once encountering it. Then suddenly a 

 colony of a dozen pairs might be found occupying a stretch of alfalfa, or 

 a grassy hillside not too closely cropped by cattle. Besides the stations 

 of occurrence enumerated by Grinnell, 1 I have found it breeding (or 

 at least singing) in northeastern San Luis Obispo County, and in north- 

 western Kern, on the coastal mesa above Santa Cruz, and at a point 

 near Ukiah in Mendocino County. 



Nesting occurs from April to June according to elevation and season. 



1 Distributional List, p. 115. 

 264 



