Leconte's Sparrow 361 



This genus contains six species of Sparrow, with several additional 

 subspecies, all confined to the eastern and central parts of North 

 America (see key, p. 355). 



Leconte's Sparrow. Passerherbulus lecontei. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 548— Colorado Record— Cooke 98, p. 13 ; 97, 

 p. 214. 



Description. — Adult Male — Crown with a median stripe — buffy 

 anteriorly, whitish posteriorly — separating two blackish lateral stripes ; 

 rest of the upper-parts dusky with chestnut and pale buffy edgings to 

 the feathers ; tail-feathers very narrow and acutely pointed ; a buffy 

 superciliary stripe ; below pale buffy, whitening on the throat and 

 abdomen, streaked with black on the sides of the breast and flanks ; 

 edge of the wing white ; no yellow superciliary spot ; bill horn-brown, 

 darker at the tip. Length 5 0; wing 2-05; tail 2-0; culmen -36; 

 tarsus -70. 



The sexes are alike ; the birds in summer are less bright and have a 

 black bill. 



Distribution. — Middle of North America, breeding from Saskatchewan 

 to northern Illinois, and migrating south to South Carolina and the 

 Gulf states. Leconte's Sparrow is only of accidental occurrence in 

 Colorado ; it was taken by Carter at Breckenridge on October 24th, 

 1886. This is the only record for the State, though it hss been obtamed 

 still further west, at Fort Sherman in north-west Idaho, by Merrill 

 on September 28th (" Auk," XV., p. 16). 



Genus CHONDESTES. 



Medium-sized sparrow-like birds — wing 34 — with a rather stout, 

 conical bill and long and pointed wings ; the difference between the 

 length of the primaries and secondaries exceeding the length of the 

 tarsus ; tail about -78 length of the wing, strongly graduated, the 

 outer feathers shorter than the middle ones by about the length of the 

 culmen. Plumage streaky on the back, head stripped with chestnut, 

 tail black, broadly tipped with white. 



Only one species, separated into two races, is recognized ; it is spread 

 over western North America and Mexico. 



Western Lark-Sparrow. Chondestes grammicus strigatus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 552a — Colorado Records — Allen 72, pp. 149, 

 156; Henshaw 74, p. 259; Drew 81, p. 139; 85, p. 16; Tresz 81, 

 p. 245 ; Allen & Brewster 83, p. 191 ; Beckham 85, p. 141 ; Morrison 

 88, p. 74 ; 89, p. 37 ; Lowe 92, p. 101 ; Cooke 97, pp. 19, 102, 214 ; 

 Henderson 03, p. 108 ; 09, p. 236 ; Warren 06, p. 22 ; 08, p. 23 ; 09, 

 p. 16 ; Giknan 07, p. 156 ; Markman 07, p. 157 ; Rockwell 08, p. 172. 



