1418 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 paet 3 



PASSERELLA ILIACA ALTIVAGANS Riley 



Alberta Fox Sparrow 

 Contributed by Oliver L. Austin, Jr. 



Habits 



The Alberta fox sparrow is not quite so red as the Yukon fox 

 sparrow, with which it intergrades where their ranges meet, and it 

 has the back practically unstreaked. 



According to Joseph H. Riley (1912) this bird is found in summer 

 "around the small dense clumps of stunted spruces that grow in the 

 protected hollows above timber line." Harry S. Swarth (1924) 

 found it associating with golden-crowned sparrows in tangles of 

 alder and veratrum a little above timber line on Nine-mile Mountain, 

 British Columbia, where, though it was "constantly heard singing," 

 it was "so shy generally as to avoid observation." He found young 

 birds "in process of change from juvenal to first winter plumage" 

 flying about in the Skeena River region from July 22 to August 13. 

 Writing from the Alta Lake region of British Columbia, Kenneth 

 Racey (1926) notes: "The wonderful song of these birds is extremely 

 sweet and in the mornings we could hear it regularly from the clumps 

 of stunted fir trees in every direction." 



On its California wintering grounds Joseph Grinnell and Alden H. 

 Miller (1944) call it "Fairly common" and describe its habitat as 

 "Chaparral-covered slopes, typically those of interior, semiarid areas; 

 in winter stays below levels of heavy snow, where ground foraging 

 activity may be carried on in the leaf litter." 



Distribution 



Range. — Central British Columbia and southwestern Alberta to 

 northwestern Baja California. 



Breeding range. — The Alberta fox sparrow breeds from interior 

 central British Columbia (Thutade Lake) southeast to mountains of 

 southeastern British Columbia (Mosher Creek, Mount Revelstoke) 

 and Southwestern Alberta (head of Smoky River; Banff, intergrades 

 with P. i. schistacea). 



Winter range. — Winters chiefly in foothills of Cascade Mountains 

 and Sierra Nevada in California (Paine Creek, El Portal), in coastal 

 southern California (Yucaipa, Flinn Springs, San Clemente Island), 

 and in northwestern Baja California (Santo Domingo, La Grulla) ; 

 occasionally north to northwestern Oregon (Government Island) 

 and east to southeastern Arizona (Huachuca Mountains). 



Casual record. — Casual in Manitoba (Deer Lodge). 



Egg dates. — British Columbia: 9 records, May 14 to June 26. 



