July, 1909 
NESTING OF THE ARIZONA JUNCO 
131 
The eggs, three or four in number, are usually plain white with a tinge of 
blue which seems to get darker as incubation advances. Frequently one or more of 
the eggs have some small brown spots scattered over their surfaces. The birds do 
not readily desert a nest and seem to return to the same locality year after year. 
Tombstone , A rizona . 
NESTING HABITS OF THE RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW 
I5y HARRIET WILLIAMS MYERS 
WITH TWO PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR 
O N the afternoon of April 10 a friend stopt to tell me about a bird that she did 
not know which was nesting on the side hill of their property. Being 
anxious to see the nest I visited the place with her and found the bird to be 
a Rufous-crowned Sparrow ( Aimophila riijiceps ) , a species which I had never 
before seen. 
The hill where the nest was situated is an uncultivated one just outside the Los 
Angeles city limits, overlooking the Arroyo Seco, and is overgrown with the usual 
vegetation — clumps of sage brush, wild oats, clover, grasses, and many varieties of 
wild flowers. The nest was placed directly on the ground under a clump of grass 
over which white convolvulus was twining; owl clover, brodiaeas, and lupines were 
blooming in the same clump. The nest itself resembled in shape and size the Song 
Sparrow's nest, being made of brown grasses, lined with finer fibers and a few 
horse hairs. It contained three large pure white eggs. The noticable thing about 
them was their size, they more nearly comparing with a Towhee’s egg than with that of 
a Song Sparrow. The female was brooding and allowed me to come within three 
feet of her in my inspection before she flew off the nest. Then she stationed her- 
self on a weed nearby and scolded me in a most musical way. One note that she 
used sounded like “dear, dear”, and reminded me of one note of the Wren-tit tho 
it was more plaintive. This I found to be the common call note of these sparrows. 
But the note which exprest the greatest disapproval of my presence was a short, 
sharp one given as rapidly as possible. As soon as we stept back from the nest 
the bird was quiet and flew to a bush farther up the hill where she preened herself 
before returning to the nest. 
The next morning I was at the nest at ten o’clock. The bird was not brood- 
ing and was nowhere in sight. At 10:23 she came to the top of a stake that stood 
just above the nest. From there, or a nearby bush, she gave me a vigorous scold- 
ing, using the single high-pitcht note given rapidly, varying it once or twice 
with the slower, more plaintive, “dear, dear, dear”. In ten minutes she ceased her 
scolding and flew about below r me until 10:49, twenty-three minutes after her 
coming, when she slipt thru the grass and onto the nest. Ten minutes later I 
saw and heard another bird of this species way up on the hillside. He did not 
attempt to come down to the nest, but gave the single call note which the female on 
the nest answered with a low “sit”. In a few minutes the bird on the hillside flew 
away. This was the only time during incubation that I saw other than the brood- 
ing bird about. 
At 11:33 the brooding bird left the nest and went to a nearby bush where she 
