HARRIS 1 SPARROW 1257 



I recall the young birds I saw at Churchill during the summers of 

 1933 and 1934 as recognizably Harris' sparrows in a typical young 

 fringillid pattern, streaky dark above, not radically different from 

 the first winter plumage, and heavily streaked below on the throat, 

 chest, sides, and flanks. The lower belly is white. 



Winter plumages. — Three typical plumages occur in Harris* 

 sparrows during their stay in the United States: (1) The white-throated, 

 buffy immature with crown feathers broadly margined with buff and 

 wide, buffy, superciliary stripe giving the bird an overall brownish cast. 

 (2) The black-throated darker adult with crown wider and blacker, 

 and the feathers less conspicuously margined with gray or buff, giving 

 a sharper contrast above and below. (3) The full breeding plumage 

 with complete black hood, gray cheeks, and dark postauricular spot 

 acquired by a partial molt of all birds during March and April. (As 

 characteristic of the genus and most of the family, the flight feathers 

 and rectrices are replaced only in the complete postnuptial molt.) 



Between these three typical plumages occurs a wide variety of 

 intergradations, some almost impossible to catalogue as adult or 

 immature. Crown feathers may be broadly margined over the entire 

 crown, lightly margined, partially at forehead or rear, or almost solid 

 black. White throats may be flecked, blotched, or patched with black; 

 black throats may be flecked or patched with white until it is difficult to 

 say which is the basic color. A number of birds have the black throat 

 partially or broadly separated from the dark chest patch by a white 

 band. 



Considerable attention has been given these "intermediate" 

 plumages. Robert Ridgway (1901) suggests that the birds with 

 broadly margined crown feathers and a mixture of black and white 

 in the throat and chin might be in their second winter, in a 3-year 

 progression toward fully adult plumage. Swenk and Stevens (1929) 

 elaborate on this theorj 7 , noting that about 80 percent of the migrating 

 individuals in October and November exhibit these characteristics. 

 Mrs. Nice (1929a) expresses surprise at the relatively small pro- 

 portion of "black-hooded birds" in the wintering flocks at Norman, 

 Okla. She raises the question as to the age at which this characteristic 

 may be retained throughout the year and exhorts banders to solve 

 the riddle. While operating banding stations near Stillwater, Okla., 

 P. J. Park (1936), C. E. Harkins (1937), and G. M. Steelman and 

 K.E. Herde (1937) consecutively made detailed observations of plum- 

 ages and the prenuptial molt. They accept the 3-year age sequence 

 theory, but while their work carefully details the progression of the 

 plumages through a season, the few return records of birds from 

 previous years are insufficient to substantiate any such conclusions. 



646-737— 68— pt. 3 2 



