Remsen, J.V. 1977 Le Contels Sparrow Passerherbulus caudacutus May 22 Furnace Creek Ranch, Inyo Co., Calif : I located in cattail-grass lined ditch just e. of small pond in NW corner of the golf course where it had been found yesterday afternoon by Guy McCasKie . We got several fantastic views , despite strong ( 25+ mph ) winds , by repeatedly flushing the bird until it landed in the open . It would flush and drop suddenly into 5-6" tall grass bordering the cattails and would stick its head up above the grass to keep an eye on us. Twice it did land on cattail stalks, giving us full views , Description : A very tiny sparrow - seemed smaller than Grasshopper - with a large, long head for its body size ; bill ( blue- gray ) also seemed large and rather long for the body size ; the eye was black and stood out boldly on the face ; the crown had a pale median stripe bordered by 2 broad , dark brown stripes ; the median stripe seemed to be of three colors : proximal 1/3 buffy, middle 1/3 whitish ; distal 1/3 grayish ; a broad eyebrow was striking orange buff ; there was a black postocular streak which just behind the eye was almost in visible but distally broadened into a conspicuous , broad line , curving slightly downwards ; there was a gray , triangular cheek patch bordered on all sides by bright orange-buff ; no malar streak was seen ; the throat was paler buff than the head color ; the throat and breast were bright orange-buff, perhaps not as orange as eyebrow ; belly becoming whitish ; flanks and sides buffy with thin, sharp dark streaks continuing to near undertail coverts (reminiscent of Lincoln's Sparrow ) ; back pale-gray brown with blackish feather edgings and two conspicuous white streaks converging posteriorly ; these streaks were composed of white , chevron-shaped marks ; tail short, thin g brown . I did not note pinkish-brown streaks on nape although Steve Cardiff did see this. The bird was silent the whole time May 23 Furnace Creek Ranch : I ( same bird , same spot )