The Brewer Sparrow 



tains at alt. 8500, July 8, 1912; Cottonwood Lakes (Inyo County) at alt. 11,000, 

 July 10. 191 1, etc. Winters sparingly in the San Diegan district, and along the Colo- 

 rado River; has occurred also in winter at Fresno (Tyler), and casually at Redwood 

 City (Littlejohn). 



Authorities. — Heermann (Emberiza pallida), Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., ser. 

 2, ii.. 1853, p. 265; Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856, p. 40 (desc. of breweri); 

 Ridgway, Orn. 40th Parallel, 1877, p. 480 (song) ; Grinnell, Auk, vol. xxii., 1905, p. 386; 

 Peyton, Condor, vol. xi., 1909, p. 207 (nests); Tyler, Condor, vol. xii., 1910, pp. 193-195 

 (nesting, habits, etc.). 



IT IS never quite fair to say that Nature produces a creature which 

 harmonizes perfectly with its surroundings, for the moment we yield 

 tribute of admiration to one creature, we discover amid 

 the same circumstances another as nearly perfect but 

 entirely different. When we consider the Sage Spar- 

 row, we think that Nature cannot improve much upon 

 his soft grays by way of fitness for his desert 

 environment; but when we come upon the Brewer 

 Sparrow, we are ready to wager that here the dame 

 has done her utmost to produce a bird of non- 

 committal appearance. Mere brown might have 

 been conspicuous by default, but brownish, 

 broken up by hazy streakings of other brownish 

 or dusky — call it what you will — has given us a 

 bird which, so far as plumage is concerned, may 

 be said to have no mark of distinction whatever 

 — just bird. 



The Sage Sparrow fits into the gray-green 

 massy scheme of color harmony in the artemisia, 

 while Brewer's fits into the somber, brown-and- 

 streaky scheme of its twigs and branches. To 

 carry out the comparison, do not look for breweri 

 early in the season, when the breath of the rain 

 rises from the ground and the air is astir; he is 

 there, of course, but disregard him. Wait, 

 rather, until the season is advanced, when the in- 

 comparable sun of Yakima has filled the sage- 

 brush full to overflowing, and it begins to ooze out 

 heat in drowsy, indolent waves. Then listen: 

 Weeeezzz, tubitubitubitubitub, the first part an in- 

 spired trill, and the remainder an exquisitely modu- 

 lated expirated trill in descending cadence. 



Taken in San Bernardino County 

 Photo by Wright M. Pierce 



BREWER SPARROW 



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