Slate-coloured Fox-Sparrow 391 



Description. — Male — General colour above dark grey, becoming russet- 

 brown on the wings and tail ; a greyish-white supraloral spot and a 

 few white specks round the eye ; below white, the throat, chest and 

 flanks with fairly large spots of sepia-brown ; iris brown, upper man- 

 dible horn-brown, lower bluish at tip, whitish at base, legs fleshy 

 Length 6-90; wing 3-15; tail 2-90; culmen 42; tarsus -93. 



The sexes are alike and nearly the same size ; the young are like 

 the adults, but the upper-parts are tinged with brown. 



Distribution. — Breeding from the interior of British Columbia, south 

 to south-east California and east to western Colorado ; south in 

 winter to New Mexico and Arizona. Casual to western Kansas. 



In Colorado the Slate-coloured Sparrow is of rare occurrence. It 

 has never been obtained east of the mountains, nor is there a Colorado 

 example in the Aiken collection. In fact the only recorded occurrences 

 are: Florissant about 8,000 feet, June, 1889, J. L. Goodale ; Grand 

 River, near Glenwood, Jiuie, 1897, D. Bruce ; and Blue River, near 

 jvmction with Grand River, July, 1877, Carter — all mentioned by 

 Cooke ; while it has recently been obtained by H. G. Smith, July 3rd, 

 1908, at Sulphur Springs, and was seen at Fort Lewis by Gilman. 

 As it is common in parts of Utah, it will probably be found to be 

 a summer resident on the western slopes of Colorado. 



Habits. — ^Bendire ("Auk," VI., p. 113) gives a good 

 account of the habits of this Sparrow as observed by him 

 at Camp Harney, Grant co., Oregon, where he found it a 

 very common summer resident. He states it was there 

 a tame and famihar bird, keeping about the gardens 

 and yards of the post and often consorting with the 

 fowls. It was terrestrial in habits, spending most of the 

 day scratching amongst manure heaps or fallen leaves in 

 search of worms, larvse and seeds. Nesting takes place 

 at the end of May or beginning of June. The nest is 

 a bulky structure, the outer coats of which consist of 

 coarse grass, bark strips and fibre woven together in 

 a damp or wet condition, and forming a compact, solid 

 mass when dry. The lining is of fine grass or sometimes 

 horsehair. It is usually placed in a willow or other 

 bush, about three feet above the ground. The eggs, 

 three or four in number, are pale greenish, fairly evenly 



