288 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



the middle toe. Brown above, either uniformly so or faintly 

 streaked ; triangular spots below. 



"This section embraces a single North American genus, chiefly 

 characterized by the remarkable elongation of the lateral claws, as 

 well as by the peculiar shape and large size of all the claws ; the 

 lateral, especially, are so much lengthened as to extend nearly as 

 far as the middle. The only approach to this, as far as I recol- 

 lect, among United States Conirostres, is in Plpilo megalonyx, and 

 Xairilwceplialus icterocephalus. (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



GENUS PASSERELLA SWAINSON. 



SWAINSON, Class. Birds, ii, 1837,288. Type, FrlnrjWa Hiaca MEEBEM. 



"GEN. CHAR. Body stout. Bill conical, not notched, the outlines straight; the two 

 jaws of equal depth; roof of upper mandible deeply excavated, and vaulted; not knobbed. 

 Tarsus scarcely longer than the middle toe ; outer toe little longer than the inner its claw 

 reachingto the middle of tin- <-entral one. Hind toe about equal to the inner lateral; the 

 claws all long, and moderately curved only; the posterior rather longer than the middle, 

 and equal to its toe. Wings long, pointed, reaching to the middle of the tail; the tertials 

 scarcely longer than secondaries; second and third quills longest; first equal to the fifth. 

 Tail very nearly even, scarcely longer than the wing. Inner claw contained scarcely one 

 and a half times in its toe proper. 



"Color. Rufous or slaty; obsoletely streaked or uniform above; thickly spotted with 

 triangular blotches beneath." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



A single species of this genus belongs to North America. It is 

 represented in the West by P. schistacea, BAIRD, in the Rocky 

 Mountains and west to the Sierra Nevada; by P. megarhyncha, 

 BAIRD, in the southern portion of the Pacific coast ranges, and by 

 P. unalaschcensis (GiviEL.) along the more northern portion of the 

 Pacific Coast. All these forms intergrade either with one another or 

 with P. iliaca, but whether these intergradations are due to hybridism 

 or bear the more important significance which has been assigned 

 to them, future knowledge alone can decide. 



Passerella iliaca (Merrem). 

 FOX SPAKROW. 



Popular synonyms. Fox-colored Sparrow; Rufous Sparrow. 



Fringilla iliaca MEKREM, Beit. Gesch. Vog. ii, 1786-87, 49. pi. 10. NUTT. Man. i, 1832, 514. 

 AUD. Orn. Biog. ii, 1834, 68; v, 1839, 512, pi. 108; Synop. 1839,119; B. Am. iii,1841, 139. 

 pi. 185. 



