The Bell Sparrow 



zone, west of the Sierras and desert divides, north to Marin, Sonoma, Solano, and 

 Eldorado (at least formerly) counties, south to northwestern portion of Lower Cali- 

 fornia; occurs on San Clemente, San Nicholas, Santa Rosa, and (probably) Santa 

 Cruz Islands. 



Distribution in California. — As above. 



Authorities. — Cassin (Emberiza belli), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. v., 1850, 

 p. 104, pi. 4 (orig. descr.; Sonoma or San Diego, Calif.) ; Grinnell, Auk, vol. xv., 1898, 

 p. 58 (crit.); Pierce, Condor, vol. viii., 1906, p. 152 (nesting habits); Grinnell and 

 Swarth, Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., vol. x., 1913, p. 278 (San Jacinto Mts. ; habits); Howell, 

 Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 12, 1917, p. 79 (San Clemente, San Nicholas, and Santa Rosa 

 Islands.). 



WITH SPECIMENS in hand for comparison the 

 casual student would suppose that Amphispiza 

 belli and A. nevadensis might be included 

 within a single species. Such, indeed, was 

 the earlier understand- 

 ing until Grinnell' 

 pointed out, in 1898, 

 that the breeding ranges 

 of the two forms interlap 

 without resulting inter- 

 gradation. This dis- 

 covery and the 

 subsequent delimitation, 

 still incomplete, of the 

 breeding range of A. 

 nevadensis canescens, has 

 quite upset our earlier 

 notions both of the re- 

 lationships and distribu- 

 tion of A. belli, so that 

 we cannot speak dog- 

 matically at this time. 



Dr. Grinnell says of 

 the Bell Sparrow^ "Ad- 

 heres closely to the 

 c h a m i s a 1 (^4 denostoma fascicu- 

 latum) association," yet no one 

 of my five nests-and-eggs was 

 taken in chamise, and only one 

 (San Jacinto River, alt. 2200 



» Auk, Vol. XV., Jan. , 1898. p. 58. 



- Pacific Coast Avifauna, no. 11, 1915. p. 21. 



Plwlo 

 by the 

 Author 



XEST AXD EGGS OF BELL SPARROW 



279 



