FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 
343 
brown bordered above and below by narrow blackish streak ; malar region 
whitish, bordered below by dusky streak along side of throat; hind neck 
gray, narrowly streaked; back and scapulars brown, broadly streaked 
with black ; wing bars buffy ; under parts whitish, washed with brown on 
chest and sides. Adults in winter: crown streaks narrower, and plumage 
more buffy. Young: upper parts buffy or clay-colored; chest and sides 
buffy, streaked with black. Male: length (skins) 4.64-5.41, wing 2.34- 
2.49, tail 2.18-2.44, bill .34.-39. Female : length (skins) 4.64-5.25, wing 
2.28-2.51, tail 2.08-2.40, bill .35-39. 
Remarks. — The clay-colored and the Brewer sparrow both have 
streaked upper parts, but the clay-colored has a median crown stripe and 
plain gray hind neck, while the Brewer is uniformly streaked on head, 
neck, and back. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Transition and Canadian zone from the Sas¬ 
katchewan plains south to Iowa and Nebraska and from Illinois west to 
western Montana; migrates south to Lower California and southern end of 
Mexican tablelands. 
Nest. — In bushes in open situations. Eggs : usually 4, light greenish 
blue, speckled chiefly around the larger end with brown. 
The clay-colored sparrow is said to be almost exclusively terres¬ 
trial, though during the nesting season the males sing from the tops 
of bushes almost continually. The song Coues gives as three notes 
and a slight trill. Along the Red River in Dakota, he says, they 
nest in “open low underbrush by the river side and among the 
innumerable scrub-willow copses of the valley.” 
562. Spizella breweri Cass. Brewer Sparrow. 
Adults. — Entire upper parts streaked with black on grayish brown 
ground; under parts soiled grayish. In 
winter , similar but more buffy. Young: 
like adults, but chest and sides streaked, 
streaks of upper parts broader and less 
sharply defined, and wings with two dis¬ 
tinct bands. Male: length (skins) 4.74- 
5.13, wing 2.37-2.59, tail 2.26-2.44, bill .34- 
.35. Female: length (skins) 4.60-5.19, 
wing 2.20-2.59, tail 2.26-2.50, bill .34-.36. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Transition zone 
sagebrush from British Columbia south to 
southern Arizona, and from western Nebraska and western Texas to the 
Pacific coast; south in winter along the western border of the Mexican 
tablelands. 
Nest. — In sagebrush, made of fine grass stems and leaves, lined with 
long horsehairs. Eggs : usually 4, and generally like those of the clay- 
colored sparrow, but more distinctly marked. 
The Brewer sparrow, known locally as the sagebrush chippie, is 
marked down as an ‘ arid transition ’ species, and, true to his zonal 
colors, if any arid transition sagebrush strays to the sunny side of a 
high mountain ridge he will appear there with it, though his normal 
home is in the bottom of a desert. We once found him singing at 
8400 feet on the snowy crest of the Sierra, but on the sunny slope 
below was the inevitable sage. 
Fig. 432. 
