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-hody, pea- 

 body, ringing iinely 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 SPECIKS. 



1. Bill reddish brown or orange. 



2. Chin black, head slaty gray atrogularis, p. '?A'>. 



2'. Chin whitish, head rufous and bufiFy .... arenacea. p. 844. 

 r. Bill black or yellowish brown. 

 2. Crown rufous. 



8. Breast with pectoral blotch ochracea. p. 341. 



o'. 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 beliind eye. 



wortheni, p. 344. 

 2'. Crown without rufous. 



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



black breweri. p. 343. 



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

 with black. Plains pallida, p. 342. 



559a. Spizella monticola ochracea Breirst. Western Tree 

 Sp.\rkow. 



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 grayisli edges to feathers ; middle of 

 back huffy, streaktnl with l)lack and rusty ; wings ^'-- "^•'*'- 



witli two conspicuous white bars ; under p.'irts grayisli, chest irtth .s»ja// 

 duski/ spot. Young : streaked beneath. Male: length (skins) .').(')l-().00, 

 wing 2.S7-3.24, tail 2.r)0-2.8S, bill ..".S-.41. Feimde : length (skins) 5.41- 

 5.09, wing 2.S7-3.10. tail 2.(i0-2.7l>, bill .3.")-.31). 



Distribution. — Breeds from near the arctic coast through Ala.ska ; 

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

 Mexico. Texas, an<l .\ri/.on:i. 



Nest. — On ground or in low l)ushes, composed largely of dried grass 

 and fe;itliers. I'.ggs : 3 to ."). pale greeuisli blue, varying to brownish, 

 speckled with reddislj brown. 



Food. — Mainly seeds, largely weed seed. 



In its Ahiskan liotne Mr. Nelson says Ihc western tree sjKirrow is 

 the most numerous of the sparrows that fn^iueiit the 1)ushes. espe- 



