September, 1902. 
'I'HK CONDOR 
107 
undertake to stand, after tliirty-five 
years of training, where Cassin stood at 
Iris death?” The all-worthy time-hon- 
ored quartette has been rudely broken. 
Now only a triangle, Lawrence. Brew- 
er and Baird, remains of the last gener- 
ation of American ornithologists. Who 
sh^ll lead opinion when they too are 
gathered to their fathers? A higher 
trust than we perhaps appreciate, is 
laid upon the few of us of this later 
day who pay devotion to the beautiful 
study of ornithology. It is no less than 
the keeping bright and untarnished. 
and transmitting to our successors, the 
naaie and fame of the science that has 
absorbed such minds as those of Wilson, 
Nuttall, Audubon, Bonaparte and Cas- 
sin. Ma}^ we prove worthy servitors, 
guarding with jealous care our trust, 
watchful tliat the vestal fires shall ever 
burn at the shrine where we worship 
with a clear and steady flame. 
Ever yours, faithfully, 
Elliott Coues. 
Dr. J. G. Cooper, 
Acad. Nat. Sciences, 
San Francisco, Cala. 
Some Observations on the Rufous-crowned Sparrow. 
BY c. BARLOW. 
T hose who go afield after the first 
glories of spring have vanished, 
when the foxtail along the road- 
side and the short grass on the hills 
have taken on an uninviting appear- 
ance, have doubtless noticed tliat most 
of the birds have settled along the 
Writer courses, and that save for an oc- 
casional kingbird, lark sparrow and the 
like the parched hills appear deserted. 
Yet my subject deals with a small, 
rather steep hillside, where from May 
to September the heat dances dizzily 
over the thin sage growth and where 
life to most of us would be intolerable. 
Here a small colon3^ of rufous-crowned 
sparrows {Aimophila riificeps) have con- 
tentedly established themselves, and 
they lead an altogether busy life search- 
ing along the old stone wall which sep- 
arates the pasture from the road, con- 
siderable travel passes along the road 
but it seems in nowise to disturb them 
and they are really a sociable colony. 
How long the birds have frequented 
this sparsely-covered hill I do not 
know, but the}' were there to my knaw- 
ledge to 1896 and perhaps have been 
there for decades. This particular hill 
po.ssesses a decidedly scraggly growth 
of sage, and wliy it was chosen in pre- 
ference to some heavily covered hill 
which might afford secure protection, is 
best known to the birds themselves. 
Perhaps the stone wall mentioned and 
the adjacent road afford a generous food 
supply. It should be mentioned also 
that a small country schoolhouse lies 
just across the road, so, withal, this par- 
ticular band of Aimophila cannot be 
termed as exclusive as w'e should ex- 
pect individuals of this genus to be. 
The population of this colony can 
only be speculated upon. A small ser 
ies including a number of juveniles was 
collected here by Mr. Grinnell and my- 
self in September, 1901. To be exact 
some eighteen specimens were taken 
w’ithin an area of two or three acres, 
and some interesting plumages were rep- 
resented. Whether there had been 
an influx of birds from the surrounding 
hills or not I do not know, but on the 
same day other seemingly inviting sage 
hills seemed not to harbor a single spar- 
row. Thus I am inclined to believe 
that they are not uniformly distributed 
over this range of hills, even in the 
most inviting and suitable territory.' 
PUBLISHED DATA. 
We are indebted to Mr. William 
Brewster for the first published account 
of the nidification of the rufous-crowned 
sparrow. In the Bulletin of the Nuttall 
Oj'uilhological Club (II, p. 37, 1877) un- 
der the caption ‘Two Undescribed 
