NEVADA SAGE SPARROW. Amphispiza nevadensis nevadensis (Ridgway)

Field characters.—Slightly larger than Junco or Bell Sparrow. Whole bird gray-toned; upper surface of body, wings and tail, ashy brown; head pure ashy gray (pl. 8h); under surface white with a dusky spot on center of breast; a broad streak of dull black runs from bill through eye, and there is a narrower dark gray stripe on each side of throat. Voice: As for Bell Sparrow.

Occurrence.—Common summer visitant to Transition Zone east of Sierra Nevada. Observed widely about Mono Lake and around Mono Craters. Habitually in sagebrush. In pairs or scattering companies; never in close flocks.

The Nevada Sage Sparrow is the counterpart of the Bell Sparrow and takes the niche of that bird on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, where sagebrush takes the place of the greasewood of the west slope. In various portions of the plains-like, sage-covered country about Mono Lake these sparrows were seen in moderate numbers during mid-September, 1915. In the spring and early summer of 1916 they were met with only once, on June 20, close to the old Salmon Ranch near Mono Lake Post Office.

Sage sparrows do all their foraging upon the ground between bushes, where they hop about in a peculiar hesitating manner. When alarmed they run with astonishing celerity, being able easily to keep several bushes between themselves and their pursuers. If closely pressed they take to flight and scatter out, to drop out of sight again shortly. When singing, and often at other times, individuals will perch many minutes at a time at the tips of tall bushes, where they are visible considerable distances over the sea of sage.