The Brewer Sparrow 



being present (fortunately there is very little), the situation would be 

 hopeless. 



Like so many of the chaparral- and sage-haunting species, the Black- 

 chinned Sparrow colonizes loosely. Here on a hillside may be found half a 

 dozen pairs, and upon the heels of this good fortune, a silence of a dozen 

 miles, or forty, may ensue. The time to study Black-chinned Sparrows is 

 not when you will, but when you can. 



No. 56 



Brewer's Sparrow 



A. 0. U. No. 562. Spizella breweri Cassin. 



Description. — Adults: Upperparts light grayish brown, grayer — nearly light 

 neutral gray — on nuchal collar; brightest brown on back; everywhere (save on remiges 

 and rectrices) streaked with black or dusky, narrowly on crown, more broadly on back 

 and scapulars, less distinctly on rump; wing-coverts and tertials varied by edgings 

 of brownish buff; flight-feathers and rectrices dark grayish brown or dusky, with some 

 edging of light grayish brown; a broad pale buffy superciliary stripe, scarcely contrast- 

 ing with surroundings; underparts dull whitish, tinged on sides and across breast 

 by pale buffy gray. Bill pale brown, darkening on tip and along culmen; feet pale 

 brown; iris brown. Young birds show more of an ochraceous element upon the wings, 

 and are heavily streaked upon the breast and sides with dusk}'. Length 135 (5.30)' 

 wing 62 (2.44); tail 60.5 (2.38); bill 9.6 (.38); tarsus 17.3 (.68). 



Recognition Marks. — Warbler size; general streaked appearance; absence of 

 distinguishing marks practically distinctive; sage-haunting habits. 



Nesting. — Nest: A compact cup of twigs, weed-stems, and rootlets, lined, 

 if possible, with horsehair; placed in bushes, often well concealed in sage, greasewood, 

 or atriplex. Eggs: 3 or 4, very rarely 5; light bluish green (light niagara green to 

 pale nile blue), spotted about the larger end (sometimes confluent in ring) with rich 

 reddish brown (liver-brown). Av. of 26 specimens in the M. C. O. collection, 16.6 x 12 

 (.655 x .472). Season: May-July, according to elevation; usually one brood. 



General Range. — Sage-brush plains of the West, breeding from the southern 

 portion of the Southwestern States north to southeastern British Columbia, and east 

 to western Nebraska; south in winter through Lower California, and in Mexico to 

 Jalisco. 



Distribution in California. — Breeds in high Upper Sonoran and Transition 

 zones, chief!}' east of the Sierras and locally in Upper Sonoran in the great interior 

 valley or elsewhere, — Fresno County (Tyler); Sespe (Peyton); Carrizo Plains (Swarth). 

 Also a summer or late summer visitor and possible breeder in the Boreal zone to the 

 limit of trees, — White Mountains at alt. 10,000, May 26 and 27, 1919; Warner Moun- 



312 



