LINCOLN SPARROWS. Melospiza lincolni (Audubon)³⁰

Field characters.—Slightly smaller than Junco; tail shorter than body. No white markings on wing or tail; body narrowly streaked both above and below; head and upper surface of body streaked with brown and black; a gray stripe over each eye; sides of throat and body, and band across breast, buff, narrowly streaked with dark brown; chin white. Behavior much like that of Song Sparrow. Voice: Song of male an extremely rapid gurgling utterance, remindful of Western House Wren: zee zee zee ti ter-r-r-r-r-r-r; call note of both sexes a low sip; a chuckling note is also given.

Occurrence.—Moderately common summer visitant in Canadian Zone (and locally in the Hudsonian and Transition zones) on west slope of Sierra Nevada (subspecies lincolni). Also fall and winter visitant on west flank of mountains from Snelling to Yosemite (subspecies gracilis).³⁰ Lives in thickets near streams. In pairs at nesting time, otherwise solitary.

---

³⁰Two subspecies of the Lincoln Sparrow occur in the Yosemite region, at different times of the year.

NORTHEASTERN LINCOLN SPARROW, Melospiza lincolni lincolni (Audubon), a larger and paler toned form, which summers in the boreal portions of North America and in the Boreal Zone of southward-extending mountain ranges in the west, is a summer visitant to the Canadian Zone (and to a less extent the Hudsonian and Transition zones) on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada. It was found by us from above Chinquapin (at 6500 feet altitude) east to Mono Meadow (7300 feet), near Porcupine Flat (at 8100 feet), and at the head of Lyell Cañon (at 9000 feet). While in the region it lives in dense thickets of creek dogwood and willow along streams and on borders of wet meadows. Seen singly; in pairs at nesting time.

NORTHWESTERN LINCOLN SPARROW, or Forbush Sparrow, Melospiza lincolni gracilis (Kittlitz), a smaller darker toned subspecies, which nests in the coast region of southeastern Alaska, is a winter visitant along the lower west flank of the Sierra Nevada. It was found in Yosemite Valley in fall and at Pleasant Valley, Lagrange, and Snelling in winter. At these stations it lives in thick stands of grass, or amid root tangles and brush along streams; forages singly.

---

The Northeastern Lincoln Sparrow (Melospiza lincolni lincolni) is a summer visitant to the higher portions of the Sierra Nevada. While there, it inhabits dense willow and dogwood thickets, such as line streams or occur around the edges of wet meadows. It is thus found at the higher altitudes on the same ground with the white-crowned sparrow. The Lincoln sparrow, however, keeps much more closely to cover, and as its song is not loud or its markings or actions conspicuous, it is not nearly so likely to come to notice as its clearer voiced and more brightly marked and forward-acting associate. In habits, and in the niche which it occupies, the Lincoln sparrow is similar to its better known relative, the song sparrow. Its voice, however, is altogether different.

The Lincoln sparrow arrives in the Yosemite region at least by the middle of May. In 1919, near Chinquapin, the species was already present on May 20. On May 18 and 23 the same year individuals were seen in Yosemite Valley, and on May 28 (1911), a bird was noted in full song near Happy Isles. On June 23, 1920, two pairs were located along drainage ditches in the field near Kenneyville. One bird was seen carrying insects, so that young were doubtless being reared close by. This is an exceptionally low station for nesting. From late May until at least the end of July the Lincoln sparrow may commonly be looked for in willow thickets between extreme altitudes of 6500 and 9000 feet. During August we saw nothing of the birds; they were probably engaged in molting and, being notably reclusive at other times, were then able to avoid observation altogether. Nor were Lincoln sparrows of this race (lincolni) seen on any subsequent date in the fall; they took their departure southward without coming to our attention again.

The Northwestern Lincoln Sparrow, or Forbush Sparrow (subspecies gracilis), arrives in the region in the early fall. In Yosemite Valley, Mr. Joseph Mailliard (1918, p. 17) took birds belonging to this subspecies on September 15 and 18, 1917. Our own earliest record is for October 12, 1914, when one came to grief in a mouse trap set under an overhanging bank near the Merced River in Yosemite Valley. In January (1915) the birds were noted almost daily at Snelling, and several were recorded at Pleasant Valley and Lagrange in December (1915).

The little we saw of the Lincoln sparrow in the Yosemite region gave us the impression that the bird is much more retiring in its disposition than the song sparrow. The latter often perches out on top of a bush, at least when singing, and does much flying to and fro in the open; but the Lincoln sparrow keeps close within the thickets at all times. Its foraging, and even its singing, is carried on beneath the vegetational 'ceiling.' Unlike the song sparrow, the Lincoln Sparrow has but a short song period, restricted to the nesting season.

A nest of the Northeastern Lincoln Sparrow was discovered on June 28, 1915, in a dense growth of willows covering a quarter acre or more on a wet seepage slope near Porcupine Flat. (See pl. 49b). The willows which surrounded it were still almost leafless, and prostrate, having only recently been released from their heavy blanket of snow. While walking through the bog one of us chanced to step close to the nest, whereupon the incubating bird flushed and made off, dodging silently between the willow stems. The nest was on wet ground, between two small streams a yard apart. It was sunk in the dead grass of the previous season's growth, but was above the level of the sod proper, the extreme bottom of the structure barely touching the ground. The nest had been built at the base of a leaning willow stem. Three inches above it, another stem formed a sort of ridge-pole, supporting a canopy of last year's grasses. These had to be parted in order to permit the observer to look down into the nest cavity. The nest was constructed exteriorly of coarse grasses woven into a loose framework; the interior lining consisted solely of dried and yellowed grass stems of the finest sort. There were five eggs, with a pale greenish blue ground color, rather heavily marked with irregular spots of light reddish brown. Incubation was found to have proceeded about halfway toward hatching.