The Gambel Sparrow 



Taken at Pasadena 



nothing but dzinks and 

 titters from the skulking 

 host. That would 

 never do. I will surren- 

 der at discretion instead 

 — surrender and play the 

 part of Burns' chiel. 1 



Whee hee hee hee 

 wheooo hee; wheeoo he — 

 suddenly broken off; 

 Hoo hooee; wheeoo hoo 

 che wee che wee hee; chee 

 oo chee chee wee chee. 

 These imitations are 

 very stupid, of course — 

 about as expressive of 

 Zonotrichian melody as 

 a naked wire dummy is 

 of a man. The joy of 

 life, the tuneful modu- 

 lations, the vocal slide, 

 the clear fluting, and 

 the languorous content, 

 all are gone out of them. 

 Suffice to say that the 

 Gambel Sparrow has 

 manifest advantage in 

 song over his prosaic 

 cousin nuttalli, while he 

 fails to measure quite up 

 to the clear resonances 

 of leucophrys. 



It is as flocking birds 

 that we know these ubiquitous Crowners best. They feed beside the 

 road or in the edges of fields, stealing out from cover one by one, not 

 without misgiving dzinks, until the ground is covered with them. At a 

 sound, at a suspicion even, the flock rises noisily and bolts for shelter. 

 Secure in the depths of weed or bush, they wait silently until danger is 

 past, or if it does not pass, they begin to edge away or depart by ones 

 or twos or dozens for more distant fields. It is always provoking to the 

 bird-student, consciously guiltless of intent to harm, to have these prosy 



Photo by Donald R. Dickey 



THE VANGUARD OF THE FRIENDLY HOST 



1 "The chiel's amang them takin' notes.' 



328 



