Brewster on the Rufous-Crowned Sparrow. 
47 
NOTES ON THE HABITS AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE 
RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW {PEUCMA RU FI CEPS). 
BY WILLIAM BREWSTER. 
For the following notes, which are of interest as tending to 
throw some light upon the distribution and habits of a bird pre- 
viously but little known, I am indebted to Mr. Charles A. Allen of 
Nicasio, Cal., a collector whose energetic as well as carefully con- 
ducted labors in Californian field ornithology have produced results 
too well known to need mention here. 
Although the Rufous-crowned Sparrow was found abundantly 
near the Calaveras River by Heermann, and in small numbers upon 
Catalina Island by Dr. Cooper, it was not detected by Mr. Hen- 
shaw in any of that portion of California explored by the Wheeler 
Expedition in 1876. It is probably somewhat local in its distribu- 
tion, and the peculiar character of its chosen haunts renders it the 
more likely to be overlooked. Mr. Allen writes me that the Ru- 
fous-crowned Finch arrives in Marin County, Cal., about the 
20th of March. They come singly or in pairs, and are found in 
considerable numbers every season on all the mountains about 
Nicasio. Black Mountain, however, seems to be their stronghold. 
It is destitute of forests, and the exceedingly steep, rocky sides are 
abundantly clothed with “ wild oats ” and a bush very like the sweet- 
scented southern-wood. Another shrub, called by the hunters the 
“spit bush, 5 ’ is also characteristic of the locality, which is otherwise 
dry, and barren to a degree. The males sing from the tops of these 
low bushes : their notes are very sw T eet, and bear considerable re- 
semblance to those of the Lazuli Finch ( (manospiza amcena ), but 
the difference can readily be distinguished. Both sexes are very 
shy, and to secure any considerable number of specimens is a task 
of extreme difficulty. If approached from above, they drop to the 
ground, run like mice through the grass and bushes, and are next 
© 
seen flying down the mountain-side a hundred yards or more away. 
The best plan is to work upward. They are then more easily seen 
against the sky, and are less apt to take wing, as they always prefer 
to fly down hill. They apparently breed early in April, as a female, 
shot by Mr. Allen on April 7, 1878, had two fully developed eggs 
in the ovaries and a third, which would have been laid in a few 
