344 
FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 
When among its favorite bushes the small sparrow is hard to see, 
for its quick darting flight ends on the earth and it runs over the 
ground like a mouse. The best view you can get of it is when it 
mounts a bush and throws up its finely striped head to sing. And 
what an odd little song it gives ! It has the metallic, insect-like 
quality of a marsh wren’s song, and something the jingle of a 
canary’s, but though unmusical the ditty is so cheery and bright as 
to be distinctly pleasing. 
The sparrows’ morning and evening choruses are especially interest¬ 
ing, the evening the more so perhaps when the birds are feeding 
young, as they have more time when their broods are attended to 
for the night. I heard the chorus for the first time in Sierra Valley, 
California, when we rode in through the sagebrush and camped on 
the edge of the pines just at sunset. The curious little tinkling 
song was coming up from all over the brush, and it seemed as if we 
had come upon a marsh full of singing, though subdued, marsh 
wrens. 
563a. Spizella pusilla arenacea Chadb. Western Field Sparrow. 
Adults. — Bill rufous or orange; broad median crown stripe and some¬ 
times whole crown gray between reddish brown lateral stripes, which are 
sometimes indistinct; postocular streak rufous ; back grayish, rufous, and 
huffy, streaked with black; wing with two distinct bars; under parts 
whitish, slightly tinged with rufous. Young: similar but colors duller 
and more suffused; markings of head less distinct and lower parts streaked. 
Male: length (skins) 5.58-6.02, wing 2.69-2.80, tail 2.60-2.83, bill .37-.39. 
Female: length (skins) 5, wing 2.44, tail 2.47, bill .37. 
Remarks. — The reddish bill and absence of pectoral blotch are enough 
to distinguish this sparrow from the western tree sparrow. 
Distribution. — Breeds in the northwestern part of the Plains in Ne¬ 
braska, South Dakota, and Montana; migrates to northern Mexico. 
Nest. — On or near the ground, in old weed grown fields and thickets, 
made mainly of grass stems, Eggs: 3 to 5, white, tinged with green or 
buff, and speckled with reddish brown. 
Food. — Insects and weed seed. 
564. Spizella wortheni Ridgw. Worthen Sparrow. 
Top of head dull reddish brown, indistinctly streaked with darker, rest 
of head, including forehead, ashy; back pale 
tawny, broadly streaked with black; under 
parts whitish, tinged with buffy gray on cheeks 
and sides; bill pinkish brown or cinnamon 
rufous. Male: length (skins) 4.98-5.07, wing 
2.63-2.76, tail 2.35-2.53, bill .37-.39. Female: 
length (skins) 5.06-5.25, wing 2.55-2.69, tail 
2.27-2.50, bill .35-36. 
Remarks. — The Worthen sparrow may be 
distinguished from the western chipping by the 
absence of black on forehead and black streak 
behind eye. 
Distribution. — From Silver City, New Mexico, south on plateau of 
northeastern Mexico to southern Puebla. 
