LAND BIRDS. 503 



with blackish, the rump and upper tail-coverts plain; lores black; sides of head gray- 

 ish white or gi'ay; chin and throat black, this color usually extending downward 

 to the center of the breast; sides and flanks buffy brown, streaked with dark brown 

 or blackish; rest of under parts white; wings and tail grayish-brown, the former with two 

 white bars on the tips of the coverts, and the tertiaries and inner secondaries margined 

 with chestnut; bill reddish, darker at the tip; iris brown. Young: Similar to adult, but 

 the black of head much obscured by the gray feather tips, and that of the chin and throat 

 largely replaced by white; usually there is some black visible on the chin and a second 

 patch on the middle of the chest (sometimes reduced to a group of dusky streaks) ; the sides 

 of head also are distinctly buffy or brownish. 



Length 6.75 to 7.75 inches; wing 3.20 to 3.60; tail 3.30 to 3.75. 



228. White-crowned Sparrow. Zonotrichia leucophrys leucophrys (ForsL). 



(554) 



Synonyms: White-crown. — Emberiza leucophrys, Forster, 1772. — Fringilla leucophrys, 

 Bonap., Nutt., Aud. — Zonotrichia leucophrys of most authors. 



Plate XLIX. 



A large, handsome sparrow with a broad milk-white stripe through the 

 middle of the crown, bordered on each side by a stripe of clear black. The 

 chin is white, and the throat and breast are continuous light gray. 



Distribution. — North America at large, breeding chiefly in the Rocky 

 Mountains, the Sierra Nevada and northeast to Labrador. South in winter 

 to the Valley of Mexico. 



A not uncommon spring migrant in all parts of the state; less often noticed 

 in autumn. It associates more or less with the White-throats, but is 

 frequently found in small parties of five to ten by itself. Mr. Swales records 

 it near Detroit as early as April 27, 1889, and as late as May 21, 1899. Speci- 

 mens were killed on Spectacle Reef Light frequently, the earliest May 6, 

 1887, and the latest I\Lay 28, 1892. Fall records at the same light are 

 September 24 and 25, 1889 and October 5, 1890. In the southern part 

 of the state it probably is more common in October than in September. 

 At the Agricultural College it appeared May 8, 1897, and May 12, 1900. 



There is a possibility that this sparrow nests in the northernmost parts 

 of the state, but we have no positive record. Miss Mowbray says it is very 

 common at Marquette from April 17 to September 20, which would indicate 

 nesting, but neither O. B. Warren, E. A. Doolittlc, nor the writer, has 

 found it in that region, where the White-throated Sparrow breeds com- 

 monly; moreover. Major Boies did not find it nesting on Neebish Island, 

 nor have any of the good observers at the Sault recorded it in summer. 

 On the other hand it is known to nest not rarely in similar latitudes in 

 Wisconsin and Ontario. It is said to nest on the ground, or in a low bush, 

 and the eggs are described as varying in ground color from pale blue to 

 pale brown, more or less thickly speckled with reddish brown. They average 

 .85 l)y .61 inches. 



Dr. A. K. Fisher, speaking of the song as heaid during migration at 

 Sing Sing, New York, says that it suggests that of the Meadowlark. 



tkchnical description. 



Adult (sexes practically alike) : Forehead and sides of crown velvet black, enclosing 

 a broad stripe of pure white, which darkens into clear gray on the nape; a narrower white 

 stripe starts above the eye and curves backward to the nape, being boimded below by a 

 black line which starts just behind the eye; back ash-gray, streaked with dark brown, the 



