The Harris Sparrow 



emancipation from lower level duties. At the Cottonwood Lakes (alt. 

 11,000) in Inyo County, the species made its "vacation" appearance 

 on the ioth day of July (191 1). 



It is not impossible that the Brewer Sparrow nests twice in a season, 

 once at a lower level, and again several thousand feet higher. The species 

 nests in April further north, but there seem to be no breeding records 

 for that month in California. 



Neither the nest nor the eggs of Brewer's Sparrow are in themselves 

 certainly distinguishable from those of its congener (S. passerina ari- 

 zonce) ; but its nest, in my experience, is invariably placed in a small 

 bush, a sage-bush, at a height of not over one or two, or at most, three, 

 feet from the ground. Records of nesting in fruit trees I distrust; but 

 there is no doubt that Mr. Tyler did discover a unique and interesting 

 situation near Clover, in Fresno County. 1 An isolated colony of these 

 birds found an attractive summer home in a vineyard having a south 

 exposure. The curious fact in this connection is that the birds chose 

 for nesting sites only such vines as were dwarfed and yellowed, whether 

 because of the presence of some blight or through lack of soil. Mr. 

 Tyler checked up on this phenomenon for several successive years, 

 and came to know the afflicted specimens as "Brewer vines." When 

 the vines in this vineyard were cured, the colony deserted in favor of 

 another having blighted members. 



No. 57 



Harris's Sparrow 



A. O. U. No. 553. Zonotrichia querula (Nuttall). 



Description. — Adult (sexes alike): Top of head, region about base of bill, 

 broadly, and throat black; the black continued on chest, but broken up and scattered 

 upon center and sides of breast; hinder portion of cheeks, auricular region, and sides 

 of neck, pale buffy brown, or rarely plain gray; nape and dab on side of neck, chiefly 

 Prout's brown; rump and upper tail-coverts plain drab; remaining upperparts "streaked- 

 sparrow-color," i. e., drab heavily streaked with black and with marginings of lighter, 

 more buffy, brown; wings dusky, margined with grayish or pale rusty, the middle and 

 greater coverts tipped with white; tail dusky with narrow tips of white (in unworn 

 plumage only); sides grayish brown or dull ochraceous, vaguely streaked with dusky; 

 the sides of breast occasionally with admixture of rusty brown among black streaks; 

 tibiae dusky, under tail-coverts pale ochraceous buff; remaining underparts white. 

 Bill light reddish brown, lightening below; feet and legs light brown (after drying, 

 darker). Immaturity is shown by reduction of blacks, the feathers of the pileum being 

 tipped with white, thus presenting a scaled appearance, and those of throat admixed 



1 John G. Tyler in "The Condor," Vol. XII., Nov.. 1910, pp. 193-195. 



315 



