750 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
central and northeastern Mexico. The date of capture of the type would indicate 
that the bird was breeding where taken. It must be very rare at the type locality, 
for that neighborhood has been searched industriously for it without success. Judg¬ 
ing by the habits of its near relative, the Field Sparrow of the East, it should be 
non-migratory or only slightly migratory in southern New Mexico, 
The type specimen is still in the United States National Museum. The Biological 
Survey has several specimens taken in Mexico by Nelson and Goldman; one, April 
28, 1893, at Chalchicomula, Puebla, and six taken, June 8-9, 1898, at Miquihuana, 
Tamaulipas.—W. W. Cooke. 
BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW: Spizella atrogularis (Cabanis) 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 4.8-5.5 inches, wing 2.4-2.7, tail 2.4-2.9, 
bill .3-.4. Female: Length (skins) 4.9-5.4 inches, wing 2.4-2.5, tail 2.3-2.7, bill 
.3-.4. Adult male: Lores and throat black , rest of head, neck, and underparts gray, 
fading to white on belly; back and scapulars rusty brown or cinnamon, narrowly 
streaked with blackish; tail dusky with pale gray edgings, wing coverts broadly 
edged with brownish; bill pinkish brown. Adult female: Similar to male but usually 
with black of chin restricted, often wanting. Young: Black replaced by gray, streak¬ 
ings on back narrower, chest indistinctly streaked. 
Range. —Breeds in semi-arid Upper Sonoran Zone in desert and coast ranges of 
southern California, Arizona, and southern New Mexico to northern Lower Cali¬ 
fornia and south over Mexican tableland to Puebla and Michoacan; winters in 
southern part of breeding range and southern Lower California. 
State Records. —The Black-chinned Sparrow is a western and southern species, 
and its extreme northeastern limit is found in New Mexico. It ranges in that 
State north to Silver City (Marsh), and northeast to the Capitan Mountains. In 
the Capitan Mountains it was not rare June 14, 1899, and evidently breeding on 
Mount Capitan in the chaparral at the upper edge of the juniper belt at about 7,000 
feet (Bailey). It was seen, May 27, 1884, at Silver City 6,000 feet (Marsh), and 
July 20, 1908, was found fairly common on Big Hatchet Mountain at 7,000 to 8,000 
feet (Goldman); [young were being fed out of the nest, June 26, 1926, on the south 
slope of the Big Hatchets (Ligon)l. It was found a common breeder June, 1913, 
near Cuchillo at 6,000 feet (Goldman), on the west slope of the San Andres Moun¬ 
tains to 6,000 feet and abundant on the flats west of Tularosa, 4,800 feet (Gaut). 
The known breeding range extends therefore from 6,000 to 8,000 feet. 
In migration, it has been noted at about the same altitudes, October 9, 1889, 
in the Little Hachita and November 24, 1889, in the Big Hatchet Mountains 
(Anthony). 
It undoubtedly deserts New Mexico during the winter but the dates of departure 
and of return in the*spring have not yet been determined. 
Nest. —In sagebrush or other bushes, well concealed, made of grasses lined 
sometimes with horsehair. Eggs: 3 to 5, light greenish blue sometimes sparsely 
dotted with various shades of brown around the larger end. 
General PIabits. —In the San Jacinto Mountains of California 
Grinnell and Swarth found the Black-chinned Sparrow common on the 
north and west slopes, but not on the desert side of the mountains. 
The unique song was frequently heard from a male perched on the tip 
of a bush in the vicinity of its nest. The song consists of a short series 
of high, wiry notes, the first few uttered deliberately and distinctly, 
