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1924] Swarth: Birds and Mammals of the Skeena Rwer Region 353

Zonotrichia coronata (Pallas). Golden-crowned Sparrow

Breeding in fair abundance above timber line on Nine-mile Moun- 9

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tain. When we arrived there (July 22) the young were out of-the 4
nest and flying about ; the old birds could be seen singing from perches i

above the thickets in which they dwelt. Specimens in juvenal plumage
were among our special desiderata and every effort was made to shoot
them, but so wary were these young birds that we deemed ourselves
lucky to get even the three we eventually collected. At the first sign q
of danger a loud chip from the parent sends every youngster within 4
hearing scuttling for the nearest tangle of prostrate balsam, but not [
to remain there. A prompt retreat is made to the far side of the bush,
followed quickly by flight to another thicket perhaps a hundred yards
away. Pursuit is heralded by warning alarm notes from the parent,
and the youngster again flees to another refuge. Further pursuit is
generally useless. In fact, young birds were seen to go five hundred
yards or more in one flight when followed up. Meanwhile, the old
bird, perhaps joined by others, remains nearby, giving warning from
some conspicuous perch, utterly indifferent to approach within a few
yards. The warning chip of the adult golden-crowned sparrow was
a familiar note in the balsam thickets along the ridges. It accompanied

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us nearly everywhere in our travels on the summit.

The extreme wariness of the young golden-crowned sparrow is a
trait that receives emphasis from the fact that, when the first winter ‘ q
plumage is attained a few weeks later, these same young birds are
peculiarly tame and unsuspicious. Then they will permit of close
approach, will in fact come themselves to inspect the stranger in the
woods.

The first migrating golden-crowned sparrow appeared in the low-
lands, in Kispiox Valley, on September 1. For a short time thereafter
they were fairly common.

Six specimens collected (nos. 42297-42302) : two adult males, two
juvenal males, and one juvenal female from Nine-mile Mountain; one
immature male from Kispiox Valley. The three young (collected
July 25, 26) are in juvenal plumage throughout. They are heavily
streaked above and below, save on the center of the abdomen, and are R|
generally similar to the same stage in the various races of Zonotrichia
leucophrys. Compared with juvenal Z. 1. lewcophrys, young coronata ‘
is darker throughout, the ventral streaking is darker, heavier, and
more extensive, and the lateral crown stripes are less plainly indicated.