WORTHEN'S SPARROW 1239 



Plumages. — The immature plumages have never been described. A 

 female tjiken July 5, 1924, at Miquihuana and now in the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoolog}^, is similar to a juvenal-plumaged field sparrow, 

 but differs in possessing a prominent, pale buffy eye ring and a more 

 prominent and more buffy postocular stripe. The flight feathers are 

 full length, but only a few postjuvenal feathers can be distinguished — 

 on the croun, amongst the scapulars, and possibly the tertials. The 

 general effect of the dorsum is nearest buffy brown. The ground 

 color of the crouTi, back, and %\ings is close to buffy broAvn, streaked 

 prominently on the back and moderately on the crowTi and nape with 

 a blackish bro^^^lish oHve. The nape and forehead are not very 

 distinctly set off; they are between dark gray and brownish olive in 

 color. The underparts are generally a pale smoke gray, darker ante- 

 riorly and tinged slightly vriih. buffy and streaked prominently on 

 breast and flanks with blackish olive.* 



An adult female in rather fresh plumage (December 10) is nearest 

 buffy brown on the back, ^rith the ground color a little more cinna- 

 moneous and blacker than that shade and streaked prominently vaih. 

 blackish oHve. The scapular, secondaries, and coverts are edged ^vith 

 buffy brown, which forms very indistinct wing bars. The cro\\Ti is 

 bufi'y bro^^'n, obscurely streaked with a blackish shade of the same. 

 The nape is a little grayer than the crown and back, but is not well 

 differentiated. The forehead is dark gray with a buffy brown tinge. 

 The side of the head is medium gray, except for a narrow white eye 

 ring; the auriculars are tinged ^vith buffy brown. The imderparts are 

 clear, pale gray on the belly and under tail coverts darkening to 

 smoke gray on the breast and throat and between smoke gray and 

 buffy bro\v-n on the flanks. The flight feathers are dark blackish 

 olive, the rectrices and primaries narrowly edged laterally \\dth smoke 

 gray. 



No male specimen in completely fresh pliunage has been seen. 

 Specimens taken from March to July differ from females in the 

 coloration of the head; the pileum in males is more chestnut, less 

 streaked, and more distinctly demarcated from the more purely gray 

 nape (collar) and forehead. Specifically, the pileum of adult males in 

 nuptial plumage is between chestnut and tawny or blackish between 

 chestnut and tawny, more or less obscurely streaked ^\dth a darker 

 shade of the same tint. The nape is medium gray or dark gray, 

 sometimes obscurely streaked with blackish. The side of the head, 

 save for the white eye ring, is pure gray, from dark gray to medium 

 gray. However, one specimen (Louisiana State University Museum) 



*A11 colors in this section were compared directly with the Palmer and Reilly 

 (1956) color standards. 



