76 THE CONDOR Vol XXI Passerella Iliaca mariposae. Yosemite Fox Sparrow. This fox sparrow is com- monly found throughout Plumas and Sierra counties anywhere in the buck-brush and manzanita association above 4500 feet elevation, but is seldom, or never, seen out in the open sagebrush, although it occurs to some extent where the sagebrush meets the coni- ferous forest and mingles with the buck-brush. That is to say, this sparrow is found there in summer, but what it does in winter is probably quite different? This is the form ,.host of us supposed was. megarh?]?cha until the error was pointed out and the race described by H. S. Swarth (Proc. Blol. Soc. Wash., vol. 31, 1918, p. 161). The males are certainly gcod singers, and, at least in the breeding season, spend a large part of their spare time perched upon some elevated limb, or top of a sapling conifer, endeavoring to outsing each other and all the rest of their arian neighbors. They have a close second in the Green-tailed Towhee (Oreos?iza chictufa), of the same habitat, and the two together assuredly cheer up the otherwise lonely wastes of brush around such spots as Mount Eureka. Two nests of the Fox Sparrow were found at Johnsville, one on May 30 with four eggs in an advanced state of incubation, and one with three nearly fresh eggs on June 1, but these dates seemed a little early for general nesting. The first nest was situated about three feet from the ground in a spirea bush, between some mine buildings and beside a path which was used constantly by the mine people, who passed only four or five feet from the sitting bird. The second was in a rather open barranca on a steep hillside, and was on the ground at the bottom, at the base of a small piece of rock. Any sl{ght rush of water, say from a heavy shower, would have washed it away. As a rule the brush was so thick and heavy in the localities inhabited by these sparrows that nests were very difficult to locate. Perhaps this was partly due to the early date of my stay where they were numerous, as others have told me o'f finding nests without much trouble. Progne subis hesperia. Western Martin. After getting settled in the quarters selected and making things ready for business on ? the afternoon of my arrival in Loyal- ton, Sierra County, I took a stroll through the streets of the small town, to familiarize myself with the place and to fix landmarks. Upon approaching the bank building, about three blocks from the hotel, my ears were greeted by a sound that was familiar but seemed so very much out o'f place in a California town that it was' quite startling. An upward glance, however, was reassuring, for there, circling overhead, and perching upon the cornice of the bank building, were unqtiestionably a family of Western Martins, ap- parently having the time of their lives.. A couple of blocks away was a genuine, old- fashioned marti.n box on a pole in the street. A few martins were going in and out, while a few more were circling around and perching on the gable of a nearby dwelling house; but evidently the young cries mostly had le'ft the parental quarters, and pre- ferred the bank building for their resting place. This was my first experience with the semi-domestication of the Western Martin and was a great surprise at the time, but I have since been informed that Pasadena has a similar colony. This will answer a query in the March-April, 1918, number of THE CONDOR, as to whether there were any success- ful martin boxes in the west. Oreoscoptes montanus. Sage Thrasher. This bird has been recorded as a sum- mer visitant in the nQrtheastern sagebrush region of the state of California, but has not heretofore been put on record as having been found in Sierra County. Near Loyal- ton, however, a number were seen, and several of different ages taken in the early part cf June. One of these was a female that was evidently laying. Some juveniles were seen flying about at the same time, showing that the nesting season must be rather pro- longed in this locality. This completes the small list of birds noted on this trip that seemed espe- cially worth calling attention to. In most places visited bird life was scarce, remarkably so considering the apparent attractiveness of some of these locali- ties, but either something was wrong with the surroundings or there were not enough birds to go around, for scarce they certainly were. The number of varieties seen in the different localities where observations were made was as follows: Mohawk, two weeks stay, 58; Johnsville, eleven darts, $7; Loyalton? six darts, 47j Campbell's Hot Springs, seven days, 53.
