Nesting of Grasshopper Sparrow in Wyoming
Nesting of Grasshopper Sparrow in Wyoming.-On 29 June 1964 we frightened a female Grasshopper Sparrow, Ammodramus savannarum, from its well-hidden nest in dry, grassy habitat on a large flat-topped mesa one-half mile south of Mountain View, tOOO-feet elevation, Uinta County, Wyoming. This sparrow was identified on the basis of narrow, short tail, weak flight, unstreaked breast, secretive behavior, and the appearance of her nest. It was woven of grasses, sunk flush with the level of the ground, and hidden from above by small tumbleweeds and grasses. In the nest were three young, with eyes unopened, and a fourth (Univ. of Illinois 5058) lay dead about one foot away from the nest. On the following day we returned to the nest, which was empty. It is preserved in the Museum of Natural History.
Grave and Walker (Univ. Wyoming Bull., 12:91, 1913) list the Grasshopper Sparrow as rare in Wyoming, known from “hay meadows near Afton,” which is about 105 miles north of Mountain View. To the best of our knowledge our record of reproduction is the only one that has been reported for this species in the state.--Cams A. LONG and DANIEL H. MATULIONIS, Department of Zoology, University of Illinois, Urbana, 6 August 1964
