722 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
With the advent of fall they appear in New Mexico as abundant migrants. 
They are common by the first of September and occur in migration as low as 5,000 
feet at Apache (Anthony) and Cactus Flat (Goldman); as high as 9,900 feet at Hope- 
well in the San Juan Mountains, September 9, 1904, and to 10,500 feet near Costilla 
Pass, August 18, 1904 (Bailey). Most leave the State in October. [A specimen was 
taken November 5,1916, at Fay wood Springs, 20 miles south of Silver City (Kellogg).] 
A few remain all winter, as they were seen, January 12, 1903, near Bear Canyon 
in the San Andres Mountains (Gaut), and January 3, 1903, at Mesilla Park (Ford). 
On the Carlsbad Bird Reserve they were twice seen in January, 1915, were noted 
during the winter of 1915-16, [and were abundant in December, 1916 (Willett).] 
On the return migration in spring the species was noted on the southern border 
near Lake Palomas, April 12, 1892 (Mearns), and near Santa Rosa May 5-17, 1910 
(Lantz and Piper). It was still present May 16, 1892, at Moscpiito Springs near the 
southern boundary (Mearns).—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —On grassy ground; made sometimes of wild hay and marsh grass, lined 
with fine grass and horsehair. Eggs: 3 to 6, pale brownish varying to dull whitish 
or greenish white, spotted with brown and occasionally a few darker marks. 
Food. —One of the greatest insect eaters among the sparrows, it is an important 
destroyer of the alfalfa weevil. In infested regions in May, June, and July the weevil 
has made from one-half to two-thirds of its total food. It also eats caterpillars, fly 
larvae, plant lice, and, in addition, weed seeds. 
General Habits. —As Mr. Bailey says, among the many incon¬ 
spicuous, plain, little striped-backed sparrows of the western United 
States the Savannah is “one of the plainest and most inconspicuous. 
Anywhere in the meadows, prairie grass, or weed patches, one may dart 
out from under your feet, zigzag over the grass-tops for a little way, and 
drop into the grass , hopelessly lost till he is again forced to take wing” 
(MS). If undisturbed, the Savannahs give their cheerful little song 
from the weed tops or fence posts, but they must be observed at a 
distance. 
At Lake Burford late in May and June Doctor Wetmore found them 
in dead weather-beaten growths of bayonet grass near the shore, and 
late in September and October we found them there, both in the tules 
and weeds bordering the lakes and on the sagebrush-clad hills above. 
In northern Nevada, Doctor Taylor found them common in the 
grassy marshes, in wild hay meadows, in willows, and in alfalfa fields. 
WESTERN GRASSHOPPER SPARROW: Ammodramus savannarum bimaculatus 
Swainson 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 4.2-5.1 inches, wing 2.2-2.6, tail 1.7-2, 
bill .4-.5. Female: Length (skins) 4.4-4.8 inches, wing 2.4-2.5, tail 1.8-2, bill .4. 
Tail short, double rounded and feathers sharp pointed. Adults in summer: Crown 
with median buffy stripe , between blackish stripes; nuchal patch ash-gray marked with 
reddish brown; feathers of back with black eye spots nicked with reddish brown; wings 
dusky with buffy gray edgings, yellowish olive shoulder patch passing to yellow on 
edge of uring; sides of head and broad superciliary stripe, dull buffy, yellowish above 
lores; underparts buffy changing to white below. Adults in winter: Brighter than 
summer adults, chest and sides sometimes indistinctly streaked. Young: Wing 
