ISO THE TOWNSEND SPARROW. 



No. 6i. 



TOWNSEND'S SPARROW. 



A. O. U. No. 585a (part). Passerella iliaca townsendi (Aiululjon). 



[Description of P. i. anucctcns (Yakutat Fox Sparrow). — "Similar to P. i. 

 insnlaris but smaller ( the bill especially ) and coloration slightly browner" 

 (Ridgw.).] 



Description. — Adults: Similar to P. i. anucctcns but coloration darker and 

 richer (inclining to chestnut brown); spots on chest, etc., larger. "Above deep 

 Vandyke brown, duller (more sooty) on pileum, more reddish (inclining to burnt 

 umber or dark chestnut brown) on upper tail-coverts and tail; sides of head deep 

 sooty brown, the lores dotted, the auricular region finely streaked, with dull 

 whitish : general color of underparts white, but everywhere spotted or streaked 

 with deep chestnut brown or vandyke brown, the spots mostly of triangular 

 ( deltoid and cuneate ) form, very heavy and more or less confluent on chest, 

 smaller on throat and breast; sides and flanks almost uniform deep brown, the 

 latter tinged with buiify or pale tawny, under tail-coverts deep olive or olive-brown 

 broadly margined with buffy or pale fulvous." Length of adult male (skins) : 

 6.67 (169.4); wing 3.17 (80.5); tail 2.78 (70.6); bill .47 (11.9); tarsus 

 i.oo (25.4). 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size; warm brown ( nearl}- uniform) colora- 

 tion of upper]xirts ; heavy spotting of chest, etc. Absence of distinctive head 

 markings will distinguish bird from local Song Sparrows, and robust form with 

 conical beak from migrating Hermit Thrushes. 



Nesting. — As next. Does not breed in Washington. 



General Range. — "Coast district of southern Alaska (islands and coast of 

 mainland from southern side of Cross Sound, Lynn Canal, etc., to north side of 

 Dixon Entrance) ; in winter, south to northern California" (Ridgway). 



Range in Washington. — Common migrant and (possibly) winter resident 

 west of Cascades. 



Authorities. — ? Friugilla tozcnscndi Audubon, C)rn, Biog. Y. 1839, 236, pi. 

 424, fig. 7 (Columbia River). Townsend, Narrative (1839), p. 345. Passerella 

 tozvnsendii. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, p. 489. C&S. Ra. Kk. B. 

 E(H). 



Specimens. — ( U. of W.) Prov. B. C. 



TIME was when all the \-arious Fox Sparrows of the Pacific North- 

 west were lumped together under the name Townsend's Sparrow. A more 

 critical age, however, under the leadership of Professor Ridgway, has 

 resolved the bewildering array of shifting browns into five forms, or sub- 

 si)ecies, assigning to each summer quarters according to the dullness or 

 brightness of its coat. The end is not yet, of course, but the distinctions 

 already made are sufficiently attenuated to cause the public to yawn. Suffice 

 it to say, that this is one of the plastic species long resident on the Pacific 



