The Lincoln Sparrows 



such, come with full force and fresh- 

 ness at a hundred yards to the 

 listeners of the trail around Bluff 

 Lake in the San Bernardinos, or at 

 Camp Ahwahnee in the Yosemite. 

 Indeed, how could any creature, 

 however trivial, gaze upon the sub- 

 limities unfolded along the hallowed 

 reaches of the Merced without burst- 

 ing into song! Be that as it may, I 

 shall never recall the vision of Yo- 

 semite Falls, as seen from the road 

 just below the village, without 

 hearing the wild music of the Lincoln 

 Song Sparrows sounding like a 

 pibroch above the solemn thunders 

 of this majesty. And if one set out 

 to collect a photographic series of 

 favorite haunts of the Lincoln Spar- 

 row, he would have a muster roll of 

 California's finest: Tahquitz Ridge, 

 the Simpson Meadows, the Yo- 

 semite, the eastern flank of the 

 Warners, Sisson, and Mt. Shasta — these are a few of the trysting 

 places of lincolni within the author's experience. And these are but 

 a drop in the bucket as compared with the uncharted multitude of 

 beauty spots which the careful taste of lincolni has honored. 



Nests of the Lincoln Sparrow are hidden at the base of bush clumps 

 or grass tussocks, in the depths of the local swamp. The female slips off as 

 unobtrusively as a mouse, and threads the mazes in swift pedal retreat be- 

 fore taking to wing. The youngsters, too, according to Mr. Aretas 

 Saunders 1 move over the ground with astonishing proficiency before ever 

 they are able to fly. 



After the young have quitted the nest the solicitude of the parents 

 becomes very manifest. The birds follow one about with soft little chips 

 of remonstrance, and they are very jealous of avian intruders. The 

 scolding note has nothing of the sharpness exhibited by the Song Sparrow 

 (M. melodia), nor of the asperity of the J unco, although it most resembles 

 that of the latter in its residual quality, as in the frequency of its utter- 

 ance. The bird occasionally erects its crown feathers in inquiry or 

 excitement, as do Chipping Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, and others. 



Once, in a more northern swamp, on the flanks of Mt. Rainier, I had 



LINCOLN 

 SPARROW 





'"The Condor," Vol. XII., Nov., 1910. p. 198. 



363 



