September, 1902. 
THE CONDOR 
109 
ing become very secretive. A tramp 
through the sage failed to flush any in- 
dividuals. April 27 was destined to 
prove more fruitful of success, and I 
quote my notes for the trip: “We 
drove over to the sparrow district this 
morning. It was a beautiful day for 
bird-life. We both went over the hill 
and along the stone wall, and in the 
sage could be heard the shrill call note 
of the sparrow and occasionally its song. 
.'\pparently several pairs are breeding 
in the patch. Arkansa.s goldfinches 
were flitting and twittering about the 
hill and one flushed from a sage bush 
where T found its nest and four eggs 
in a crotch three feet up. 
“We then beat back and forth at ran- 
dom in the sage, now and then catching 
a glimpse of a rufous crowned sparrow 
or hearing its song. But any attempt 
at watching one to its nest seemed a 
most improbable thing. At this season 
the birds are very secretive and while 
one can work up to within gun-shot the 
birds were ready to change positions at 
the least alarm. The males evidence 
some interest for although they would 
sit on a fence seventy-five yards away 
and sing with apparent nonchalance for 
five minutes, eventually they would flit 
across to the sage somewhere near the 
intruder and watch his movements. I 
was tiring of the rather monotonous 
beating through the sage when J 
excitedly called to me and told me of a 
nest and four ‘white’ eggs on the 
ground. I went over and looked in 
under a small sage where the nest was 
easily seen when you knew it was 
there! 
“The nest was sunk flush in the 
ground, being built partly under a sage 
root, and contained four eggs with a 
very perceptible light bluish tinge. 
Upon blowing one egg was found in- 
fertile and the others were but slightly 
incubated. We sat down at a distance 
but not a sound came from the female, 
who had flushed and disappeared. 
After perhaps ten minutes of quiet 
watching the bird appeared up the hill 
but was extremely wary. .She flew 
past the bush and alighted, but would 
not go to the nest. Then she flew up 
the hill again, when I collected her. 
Dissection showed the set to be com- 
plete. Further search failed to reveal 
any other nests for the day. 
“This sparrow has an alarm, quirky 
qtdrk, qttirk, very similar to the rock 
wren. It is uttered also as a spontan- 
eous note at times. The real song has 
been likened to that of the lazuli bunt- 
ing but I see little resemblance save in 
the general trilling style. The sparrow’s 
note is much stronger, a combination of 
warble and trill which it would be 
quite useless to attempt to write. It 
seems to me quite distinct from other 
bird songs and is uttered indiscriminate- 
ly either from a perch, from the sage, 
or when the bird is on the ground.’’ 
The nest mentioned was substantially 
built as may be seen from the illustra- 
tion. It was composed outwardly of 
grass, grass roots, a few small twigs and 
fibers, d'lie lining was almost entirely 
of horsehair. The outside diameter was 
six inches, the inside three inches. 
Depth inside, inches; outside, three 
inches. The front or exposed rim of 
the nest was much thicker than the 
back. The eggs were four in number, 
possessing a slight bluish tinge both 
before and after blowing. 
In this connection it may be interest- 
ing to mention that the eggs of this 
sparrow seem to be possessed of two 
types of coloration some sets being pure 
white, while others have the bluish 
tint. Four sets which are known to be 
in existence show the following colora- 
tion: Mr. Brewster’s set of three eggs, 
he informs me, are pure white; a set 
collected by Mr. H. S. Gay in San 
Bernardino Co. and kindly loaned me 
for inspection, are pure crystalline 
white in color; a set collected by Mr. 
R. H. Beck in Monterey Co., Cal., June 
25, 1894, is now in the National Museum 
collection. Dr. Win. U. Ralph informs 
me that the eggs are “certainly of a 
light bluish color.’’ The set collected 
