ENGLISH SPARROW. Passer domesticus (Linnaeus)

Field characters.—Size of Junco but of more chunky build. Sexes different. Female and young: upper surface of body brown, the upper back and wings streaked with black; under surface of body without markings, grayish white often soiled to dark sooty brown. Male: Similar, but with large patch involving middle of chin and throat, and more or less of breast, black; also much chestnut on side of head, back, and wings. Voice: No regular song; a variety of unmelodious notes. Most usual call a harsh chis-sick.

Occurrence.—Resident at Snelling, Mount Bullion and Coulterville; reported in Yosemite Valley, September 2, 1920 (C. W. Michael, MS). Lives in streets of towns and sometimes about farmhouses or stables. In flocks except when nesting.

An account of the 'natural' history of a region ought, perhaps, not take notice of 'introduced' species; but so forcefully has the English Sparrow made a place for itself in our fauna that we feel we must accord it brief mention. The status of this species in the West is still rapidly changing, and so whatever we write of it here must be considered only as showing its condition for the years 1914 to 1920, when we worked in the region.

In May, 1915, it was seen at Mount Bullion, and the Marre Brothers, long residents at that place, stated that the birds had been present for between 10 and 15 years. At Snelling on May 28, 1915, it was fairly common, and numerous young were noted about the corrals of the town livery stable. In May, 1919, it was seen in the streets of Coulterville, and residents told us that it had been present for a number of years. We did not see it there on either of two brief visits to the town in 1915. At Pleasant Valley no trace of the species was found when we worked the locality in May, 1915, but Mr. Donald D. McLean tells us (1919) that since that time he has noted a flock of the birds there. Up to 1919 nothing had been seen of the English Sparrow in Yosemite Valley, but in 1920 a pair, probably the entering wedge for establishment of this intruder in the Valley, was seen in the barnyard at Kenneyville on September 2 (C. W. Michael, MS). As the English Sparrow seems still to be extending its range in California it would not be surprising to find it as time goes on at other localities in the Yosemite region.