501 MK'llICAN BIRD LIFE. 



ruiiii) and ui)i)L'r tail-covert w plain grayish-bnmn; cliin and holly while;; throat, sides of 

 heaci and neck, and breast, clear ash-gray; sides and (ianks huffy hrowii, without streaks; 

 wings with two 'white bars; outer webs of tertiarics clicslnut, tipped with white; tail-feathers 

 brownish or dusky, unmarked; bill bright reddish-brown; iris brown. Immature: No 

 clear black or white uboiit the head, the forehead and sides of crown being rich brown, 

 and the central stripe bulT or fawn-color; a similar stripe behind the eye; gray of throat 

 and breast duller and browner, the upper parts also much browner than in the adult. 

 Length 0.50 to 7.50 inches; wing 3 to 3.30; tail 2.80 to 3.20; culmen .38 to .45. 



229. White-throated Sparrow. Zonotrichia albicoUis (Gmcl.). (558) 



Synonyms: White-throat, Peabody Bird, White-throated Crown-Sparrow, Canada 

 Bird. — Fringilla albicoUis, Cimelin, 1789, Wilson, ISIL — Zonotrichia albicollis. Swains, 

 1837, and most writers. — Fringilla pennsylvanica, Aud. 



Spring males have a narrow white stripe through the middle of the crown, 

 one on either side, a distinct yellow spot in front of the eye, and a pure 

 white chin and throat, sharply marked off from the grayish under parts. 

 Females and young birds are duller and dingier, but there are always traces 

 of the yellow eye spot, white throat and streaked crown. 



Distribution. — Chiefly eastern North America, west to the Plains, north 

 to Labrador and the Fur Countries. Breeds from Montana, northern 

 Wyoming, northern Michigan, northern New York and northern New 

 England northward, and winters from Massachusetts southward. 



An abundant migrant throughout the state, and a common summer 

 resident from the middle of the Lower Peninsula northward. Possibly 

 a few individuals remain over winter in the southernmost counties, but this 

 is not usual; few White-throats are to be found in the state from the last 

 of October to the first of April. They enter the state from the south late 

 in April, and the greatest movement takes place during the first half of May. 

 Many have been killed every year on Spectacle Reef Lighthouse, some as 

 early as April 23, 1889, and others as late as May 15, 1891. Autumn records 

 at this Hghthouse were September 24, 1889, September 29, 1887, and 

 October 7, 1893. During migration they travel in loose flocks of a dozen 

 to a hundred, and feed almost anywhere, except in perfectly open fields, 

 seeming to prefer the edges of woods, roadsides, gardens and similar places. 

 They get almost all their food from the ground, often scratching like a 

 Junco or Chewink, and the food consists largely of grass seeds and weed 

 seeds, though insects are eaten freely and large numbers are fed to the young. 



We have been unable to fix definitely the southern limit of its nesting 

 range, owing to the paucity of observers in many counties. It nests 

 abundantly in suitable i)laces north of the Saginaw-Grand Valley and 

 sparingly in the northern half of that Valley. Probably a few pairs nest 

 considerably south of that region, since it is said to have nested near Grand 

 Rapids, and individuals have been known to spend the summer about 

 Detroit. We have failed to find it, however, in summer in Ingham county. 

 In the valleys of the Au Sable, Muskegon and Manistee it is one of the 

 most abundant and charac^teristic summer birds, and the same is true of 

 the entire Upper Peninsula. 



The nest is usually placed on the ground, often at the foot of a small 

 evergreen, and is generally sunken flush with the surface and well hidden 

 by overhanging vegetation. More rarely the nest is placed in a bush or 

 small tree, but this appears to be exceptional. Numerous observers in 

 the northern part of the state have seen scores of nests on the ground, but 

 never one elsewhere. Mr. E. A. Doolittle, however, writes that on July 



