The White-crowned Sparrow 



Taken at the Cottonwood Lakes, alt. 1 1 ,000 



Photo by the Author 



SUNRISE IN THE SIERRAS 



gray; lateral crown-stripes rich brown (dark mars brown or dark chestnut), the in- 

 cluded area buffy brown; streaks of back darker; and wings with slight increase of 

 whitish edgings. Young birds are recognizably similar to immatures, but the crown- 

 stripes are broader, grayish brown spotted with black, and the whitish underparts 

 are sharply streaked with dusky. Length of adult male, 165-177. 8 (6.50-7.00); wing 

 80 (3.15); tail 75 (2.96); bill 1 1.4 (.45); tarsus 23.4 (.92). Females average smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size; black-and-white striping of head; white 

 of throat not abruptly defined; lighter and grayer than Zonotrichia gambeli, but black 

 lores absolutely distinctive. 



Nesting. — Nest: A sturdy cup of grasses, weed-stems and trash, on the ground, 

 or else a bulky mass of twigs, bark and miscellany, copiously lined with fine, dead 

 grasses, placed at moderate heights (1 to 3 feet up), in bushes or thickets. Eggs: 

 3 to 5; pale bluish green (lichen green to palest niagara green), moderately or heavily 

 sprinkled and spotted, or, rarely, mottled with brown (verona brown, or Rood's 

 brown, or mars brown); markings show tendency to form cloud-cap or, more rarely, 

 cumulus; ground-color sometimes practically buried under pigment. 42 Sierra-taken 

 eggs in M. C. 0. collection show limits of 18.8-23.9 x 15-2-18.3 (.74-. 94 by .60-. 72) 

 and average 21.3 x 16.5 (.84 x .65). Season: Ma}' 20-July 20; one or two broods. 



General Range of the Zonotrichia leucophrys group (including Z. gambeli, now 

 reckoned a separate species). — North America from the limit of trees south in winter 

 to the southern border states and Mexico. Breeds in the elevated and cooler regions 



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