Slight Extension of the Breeding Range of the Western Lark Sparrow
Slight Extension of the Breeding Range of the Western Lark Sparrow
As Lark Sparrows (Chondestes grammacus strigatus) are supposed to occupy the desert regions only in winter (Pacific Coast Avifauna no. 11, p. 116), it may be worth while to note that the species is a common breeder on the Mohave Desert, from Palmdale to at least twenty miles east of that point. Over this region, which lies along the desert base of the San Gabriel Range, their occurrence is general and not confined, as one might expect, to cultivated area. While perhaps slightly more common in the pear and other deciduous orchards, they are nevertheless distributed over the unsettled country as well. Many pairs were seen daily from May 3 to May 14, 1920, and were equally common in the same locality during late April and early May of the present year. One nest containing five apparently fresh eggs was found May 5, 1920. It was built on the ground under a small dense bush in the yucca-juniper association at considerable distance from the nearest tilled land.
D. R. Dickey, A. J. Van Rossem
Pasadena, California, December 5, 1921
