The Rufous-crowned Sparrow 



discovery of a Rufous-crown's nest is a fortunate accident — a bird 

 flushed at close range, or almost stepped on — for deliberate tracing of the 

 bird to a nest is all but impossible, owing to the exceeding wariness of 

 the bird's approach. Mr. Pemberton has given us one of the best ac- 

 counts, ' that of a set taken in Alameda County. Of the general conditions 

 obtaining in that locality, the observer says: 



"Favored localities are extremely hot, dry, unsheltered hillsides with 

 southern and western exposures, which harbor a growth of black and gray 

 sage, and a scattering of white oaks. Vegetable matter being from 88 to 

 97 per cent of their food, it is necessary that there be an undergrowth of 

 grasses. 



"Colonies are the rule, and the writer found, usually, a dozen pairs in 

 the confines of a two or three acre hillside. The birds seldom leave the 

 bushes for the oaks, their favorite perches being the tops of the sage. 

 During the ante-nuptial season, the birds may be seen on their favorite 

 perch, giving their peculiar cicada-like song, which has a wonderfully 

 ventriloquistic power, and is very confusing when one is trying to locate 

 the bird." 



The nest was found quite by accident by a lay member of Mr. 

 Pemberton's party on a steep, grass-covered, oak-shaded hillside. "The 

 nest was a poor affair — simply a few dry grasses were arranged on one 

 side and part of the bottom of an irregular hole on the edge of a bank 

 along the side of a small gully. The eggs rested upon the earth, with a 

 few grasses crossed between, and a small sage sheltered the nest from 

 the sun. 



"The lateness of the date, July 8, 1908, argued well for incubated 

 eggs, but we were glad to find these perfectly fresh. They were three 

 in number, glossy white, with no trace of the bluish color spoken of by 

 some writers, though slightly pink before blowing. The eggs are now 

 in the writer's collection, and are prized the most of all the shells to be 

 found there." 



The record of the occurrence of this species upon the Marysville 

 Buttes, in Sutter County, 2 marks the northernmost extension in the 

 West of a genus whose members are characteristic of Sonoran uplands as 

 far south as Costa Rica. The genus Aimophila, as defined by Ridgway, 3 

 embraces fourteen species and twenty-six "races," many but not all of 

 them marked variously by the peculiar "red hair" which is so character- 

 istic of our California bird. That they are of an ancient stock is evidenced 

 by the fact that their eggs, so far as known, are either white, or pale 

 bluish white, the bleaching of a long-drawn evolution. 



1 J. R. Pemberton in The Condor. Vol. XII., July. 1910, pp. 123-125. 



2 Grinnell. Distributional List, p. 123. 



» Birds of North and Middle America, Vol. I., pp. 231-233. 



2?2 



