The Song Sparrows 



Range of M. m. fisherella. — Breeds in the plateau region of northeastern Cali- 

 fornia, northern Nevada, and southeastern Oregon; winters south at least to the 

 Colorado Desert. 



Distribution in California. — Breeds regularly in the Modoc region of north- 

 eastern California, west to Sisson (or wherever merrilli may be supposed to take its 

 place), southward east of the Sierran divide through Owens Valley to Lone Pine and 

 Ash Creek; winters commonly on the southeastern deserts and in the Colorado River 

 valley. 



Authorities. — Fisher, N. Am. Fauna, no. 7, 1893, p. 99 (Owens Valley); 

 H. C. Bryant, Condor, vol. xiii., 191 1, p. 204 (food); Oberholser, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 

 vol. xxiv., 191 1, p. 251 (Honey Lake, near Milford, Calif.; orig. desc.) ; Mailliard, 

 Condor, vol. xxi., 1919, p. 75 (nest and eggs). 



THIS LARGE, pale form from the northeastern portion of the 

 State is typical of those northern interior varieties, merrilli, fallax, 

 and the rest, which by reason of the more severe winters overtaking their 

 breeding ranges, are obliged to shift southward each autumn. Their 

 winter ranges are as yet imperfectly made out, but fisherella and fallax 

 are likely to occur at that season almost anywhere in the southern portion 

 of the State, and especially in the vicinity of water-holes upon the Mohave 

 and Colorado deserts, or in the valley of the Colorado River. In such 

 situations they are easily distinguishable from the resident saltonis by 

 their darker plumage. Elsewhere, that is, west of the Sierro-San-San 

 Mountain system, they are distinguishable from resident races by their 

 large size, by their lighter, browner plumage, and more blended pattern. 

 A hardier, darker bird, merrilli, invades the northern portion of the 

 State in winter, but to a degree still problematical. 



The Modoc Song Sparrow on his native heath differs in behavior 

 by no appreciable quality from his less travelled fellows; but one fancies 

 that he is more modest and reticent in his winter home. 



On the 17th of June, 1912, I was hunting through the willows which 

 line the east shore of Goose Lake, in Modoc County. The east boundary 

 of the patch was formed by a narrow-gauge railroad of recent construc- 

 tion. Hard by the site of an abandoned construction camp I most 

 unexpectedly flushed a Modoc Song Sparrow from a massive paper- 

 wasp nest, which sat in a stark, naked willow about five feet up. The 

 Sparrow's nest, of rather flimsy construction, had been sunk deeply 

 into the fragile, papery structure on one side; and the exterior construc- 

 tion on that side was shielded and harmonized by a plentiful supply 

 of scraps from a newspaper printed in modern Greek. The bird must 

 have been moved, I think, rather by patriotism than by a taste for the 

 classics, for an exposed paragraph mentions John Bull, Champ Clark, 

 KANSAS (whose emphatic royalty everyone concedes), and Uncle 

 Sam. These proper names are mercifully Anglicized (or Romanized), 



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