Similar to the last but with the superciliary line paler and the yellow reduced to a spot on the lores. Their nests are hollows in the ground, lined with grasses and generally concealed by tufts of grass or weeds. Their three to five eggs vary greatly in markings from finely and evenly dotted all over to very heavily blotched, the ground color being grayish white. Size .75 × .55
542b. WESTERN SAVANNAH SPARROW. _Passerculus sandwichensis alaudinus._
Range.--Western North America from Alaska to Mexico.
A slightly paler form whose nesting habits and eggs do not differ from those of the last.
542c. BRYANT'S SPARROW. _Passerculus sandwichensis bryanti._
Range.--Salt marshes of California from San Francisco Bay south to Mexico.
Slightly darker and brighter than the eastern Savannah Sparrow and with a more slender bill. The eggs are not different from many specimens of savanna; they are light greenish white heavily blotched with various shades of brown and lavender. Size .75 × .55.
543. Belding's Sparrow. _Passerculus beldingi._
Range.--Pacific coast marshes of southern California and southward.
This species is similar to the last but darker and more heavily streaked below. They breed abundantly in salt marshes, building their nests in the grass or patches of seaweed barely above the water, and making them of grass and weeds, lined with hair; the eggs are dull grayish white, boldly splashed, spotted and clouded with brown and lavender. Size .78 × .55.
[Illustration 339: Grayish White.] [Illustration: Savannah Sparrow.] [Illustration: Grayish white.] [Illustration: Grayish white.] [Illustration: 542b--543.] [Illustration: right hand margin.]
544. LARGE-BILLED SPARROW. _Passerculus rostratus rostratus._
Range.--Coast of southern and Lower California.
Similar to the Savannah Sparrow but paler and grayer, without yellow lores and a larger and stouter bill. They are common in salt marshes, often in company with the last species and their nesting habits are similar to and the eggs not distinguished with certainty from those of the latter.
544a. SAN LUCAS SPARROW. _Passerculus rostratus guttatus._
A slightly darker form of the preceding, having identical habits, and probably, eggs.
544c. SAN BENITO SPARROW. _Passerculus rostratus sanctorum._