390 Birds of Colorado 



lake or stream, and the nest was constructed wholly of dry 

 grass ; the eggs, four or five in number, are greenish- 

 white heavily marked, especially at the larger end, with 

 lavender and chestnut-bro%vn. They average "80 x '58. 



Swamp-Sparrow. Melospiza georgiana. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 584— Colorado Records— Thome 87, p. 264 

 (in error apud Cooke, 97, p. 39) ; Cooke 97, p. 166 ; Gary 09, p. 182. 



Description. — Male — Forehead black, crown chestnut with a more 

 or less indistinct median line of grey, sometimes plain, sometimes 

 streaked with black ; superciliary line, nape and sides of the neck 

 ashy-grey ; rest of the upper surface brown, heavily marked with black 

 on the middle of the back ; wings broadly edged with rufous ; the two 

 middle tail-feathers with a median stripe of dusky ; below greyish- 

 white, the breast lightly, the flanks heavily washed with tawny-brown ; 

 Length 5-00 ; wing 2-35 ; tail 2.25 ; culmen -40 ; tarsus -80. 



The sexes are alike ; yovmg birds and perhaps some adults have the 

 crown plain brown, streaked with black. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America, breeding from Illinois and 

 Pennsylvania north to Labrador, south in winter to the southern 

 states. A very rare straggler to Colorado. It was seen by Aiken 

 near Colorado Springs on one occasion only, on the 22nd August, 1897 ; 

 it has been taken more recently by Merritt Cary, of the Biological 

 Survey, at Medano Springs Ranche, north-east of Mosca in the San Lxiis 

 Valley, October 23rd, 1907. 



Genus PASSERELLA. 



Medium-sized Sparrow-like birds — wing from 3 to 4 ; with rather 

 stout, strong bills ; wing moderately long and pointed, the ninth 

 (outer) primary about equal to the fifth ; tail long, from about -80 of 

 the wing to longer than the wing, nearly square ; feet and claws large, 

 tarsus about twice as long as the culmen ; outer toe reaching the sub- 

 terminal phalanx of the middle toe. Plumage reddish and slaty 

 above, below white with conspicuous triangular spots of reddish or 

 dusky horn. 



Only one species, including several geographical races, is included 

 in this genus ; it ranges all over North America as far south as 

 California. 



Slate-coloured Fox-Sparrow. Passerella iliaca schistacea. 



A.O.U. CheckUst no 585c — Colorado Records — Ridgway 73, 

 p. 183 ; Cooke 97, pp. 107, 167, 216 ; 98, p. 13 ; GUman 07, p. 157 ; 

 Rockwell 08, p. 173. 



