. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Western Lark Sparrow to forego a picture of the sitting bird. To get a picture of the eggs (see page 237), I was obliged to hack away the pro- tecting brush, having first slipped in a hand- kerchief to protect the nest and contents from showering debris. In the Shandon country, where Western Lark Sparrows abound, nesting is oftenest un- dertaken on the ground, either with or without the protection of a bush or a lupine clump. But in the vicinit
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Western Lark Sparrow to forego a picture of the sitting bird. To get a picture of the eggs (see page 237), I was obliged to hack away the pro- tecting brush, having first slipped in a hand- kerchief to protect the nest and contents from showering debris. In the Shandon country, where Western Lark Sparrows abound, nesting is oftenest un- dertaken on the ground, either with or without the protection of a bush or a lupine clump. But in the vicinity of Santa Barbara, where the bird is also not uncommon, although very irregular- ly distributed, the nests are oftener taken up into trees at moderate heights, ingly "INTRICATELY SCROLLED ABOUT THE LARGER END" TYPE FROM M. C. O. COLLECTION. X 4 The construction in such case is correspond- A sturdy basket of twigs, weed-stems, roots and twisted grasses, is beautifully lined with horsehair (what will the birds do when horses become extinct?). The eggs, four or five in number, white as to ground color, and purplish black or sepia as to markings, are among the most varied and easily the most interesting of the sparrow tribe—at least in California. The markings of sepia are often intricately scrolled about the larger end; and at their best the eggs are not exceeded in beauty even by those of the oriole. One specimen before me has twenty-two interwoven lines of color in the space of one-fifth of an inch. Another has discontinuous lines and flecks, like the colored lint-marks in a bank- note. Indeed, I am inclined to think that the Bureau of Printing and Engraving got the idea from a Lark Sparrow's egg. Other eggs again, some few, are as plainly and sparsely marked and spotted as the egg of a Brown Towhee (Pipilo crissalis). Oriole he is not, not even remotely; but how did our Lark Sparrow hit upon the decorative scheme pre- empted—patented, I had almost said
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
