FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 341 



rootlets, moss, and strips of bark, lined with finer grasses. Eggs : 4 or 5, 

 finely and evenly speckled or heavily and irregularly blotched with 

 brown. 



Food. — Insects, weed seed, and wild berries. 



Tlie white-throated sparrow is one of the best whistlers of the 

 musical genus Zonotrichia, his clear /, /, pea-body, pea-body, pea- 

 body, ringing finely through the spring air. Though chiefly an east- 

 ern bird, he may be seen in Montana and Wyoming. 



GENUS SPIZELLA. 



General Characters. — Wing less than o ; bill small, conical ; tail emar- 

 ginate or double rounded, middle feathers shorter than longest ; tarsus 

 about length of middle toe with claw. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



1. Bill reddish brown or orange. 



2. Chin black, head slaty gray atrogularis, p. 345. 



2'. Chin whitish, head rufous and buffy .... arenacea, p. 344. 

 1'. Bill black or yellowish brown. 

 2. Crown rufous. 



3. Breast with pectoral blotch ochracea, p. 341. 



3'. Breast without pectoral blotch. 



4. Forehead and streak behind eye black. Rocky Mountains to 



Pacific coast arizonae, p. 342. 



4'. Forehead without black and no black streak behind eye. 



'V7ortheni, p. 344. 

 2'. Crown without rufous. 



3. Head and back grayish brown, uniformly and finely streaked with 



black breweri, p. 348. 



3'. Head and back gray and buffy, coarsely and irregularly streaked 

 with black. Plains pallida, p. 342. 



559a. Spizella monticola ochracea Brewst. Western Tree 

 Spakkow. 



Adults. — Bill yeWow in adults ; crown, stripe behind eye, and patch 

 on sides of chest rufous, crown often, especially 

 in winter, with ashy median stripe, or rufous 

 obscured by fjrayish edges t<> feathers ; middle of 

 back buffy, streaked with black and ru.sty ; wings ^''-■' ^■'"■ 



with two conspicuous white bars ; under parts grayish, chtst ict'th small 

 dusky spot. Young : streaked beneath. Male: length (skins) ").(>l-(>.00, 

 wing 2.S7-3.L'4. tail 2.r)9-2.SS, bill ..•;S-.41. Female: length (skins) 5.41- 

 5.(>!>. wing 2.s7-;;..10. tail 2.«)C)-2.7<>, bill .:}.')-.39. 



Distribution. — Breeds from near tlie arctic coast through Alaska ; 

 migrates as far east ;is the eastern border of the Plains, and south to New 

 Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. 



Nest. — On ground or in low bushes, composed largely of dried grass 

 and feathers. F,ggs : 3 to 5, pale greenish blue, varying to brownish, 

 speckled with red(lish brown. 



Food. — Mainly seeds, largely weed seed. 



In its Alaskan home Mr. Nelson says the western tree sparrow is 

 the most numerous of the sparrows that frequent the bushes, espe- 



