The Bell Sparrow 



Taken in Inyo County 



SCENE IN THE ALABAMA HILLS 



Photo by the Author 



THESE ROCKS ENJOY THE DISTINCTION OF BEING THE OLDEST IN AMERICA 

 THE LAD IS INSPECTING A DESERT SPARROW'S NEST CONTAINING YOUNG BIRDS 



No. 48 



Bell's Sparrow 



A. O. U. Xo. 574. Amphispiza belli (Cassin). 



Description. — Adult (sexes alike): Head and neck above and on sides deep 

 neutral gray, the pileum washed with brownish, and with some dusky shaft-streaks 

 which increase in numbers on extreme forehead; lores and area around eye, except 

 above, slaty black; a prolonged submaxillary stripe (not reaching bill) slaty black; 

 eye-ring, a spot over lore, and malar stripe continuous with chin, white; remaining 

 upperparts brownish gray or warm hair-brown, the back and scapulars lightly streaked 

 with blackish; axillars and wing lining narrowly, including edge of wing, yellow; the 

 coverts and marginings of wing largely wood-brown, the lesser coverts often tinged 

 with yellow, the middle and greater coverts tipped with brownish buffy, forming two 

 pale bars: flight-feathers and tail blackish (deepest black on exposed tertials) and all 



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