Marshall, 1940 a 10. Melospiza melodia 1/2 mi. E Diablo Pt. Contra Costa Co. Calif. This is the flat (Cloudy) Calm February 24 salt-marsh at the county line, irrigated by a network of small, slow-moving sloughs from Cerito Creek - all just north & north-west of El Cerito (the knoll). Each slough is bordered by a growth of a composite shrub 3-5 feet high and extending in a dense belt 3-10 yards on each side of the slough. The areas in between are covered with a dense salicoma cover, only 6" - 1' high. The song sparrows were abundant in the composites - very wary, foraging on the wet ground at the bases of the plants covering the ground in a course 11 to the slough. The birds were mostly all definitely paired; As were singing from definite song perches (tops of the composites or within these shrubs). One pair was foraging on the ground under 2 isolated shrubs on the side of the R.R. embankment. They stayed very close together - I scared them & they flew back to the growth along the sloughs. Likewise, another pr. was