288 Brans of Illinois. 



the middle tou. Brown above, either uniformly so or faintly 

 Htreaked ; triangular spots below. 



"This section embraces a sinple North American genus, chiefly 

 characterized by the remarkable elongation of the lateral claws, as 

 well as iiy the peculiar shape and large size of all the claws ; the 

 lateral, especially, are so much lengthened as to extend nearly as 

 far as the middle. The only approach to this, as far as I recol- 

 lect, among Inited States CnninixtirK, is in I'ipih mc(iahinj.r, anil 

 Xanthoccphdlim irterocephaliiH. ^lliyt. .V. Am. li.) 



Gents PASSERELLA Sw.\in80X. 



I'Offi-ii-lln SWAINSOX, Cluss. Birds, ii, ISJT.iSS. Type. FiingiUa iliam Mehiiem. 



"Oex. t'HAH. Body stout. Bill I'finloiil, not notched, the outliiivs struiidit; tlio two 

 Jnws of eqiiul di'ptli; roof of upper nmndible deeply exoHvnted. iind vaulted; not knobbed. 

 Tursus searcely lonser than the middle toe: outer toe little longer than the inner itHclaw 

 roaehing to the middle of the eentral one. Hind toe about equal to the inner lateral; the 

 claws all long, and moderately curved only: the posterior rather longer than the middle, 

 and equal to it.s toe. Wings long, pointed, reaching to the middle of the tail: the tertials 

 scarcely longer than secondaries: second and third quills longest; flrst equal to the fifth. 

 Tail very nearly even. scarcely longer than the wing. Inner claw contained scarcely one 

 and a half times in its too proper. 



"<:oloi: Rufous or slaty; obsoletely streaked or uniform above; thickly spotted with 

 triangular blotches beneath." {Ilisl. -V. Am. H.i 



A single species of this genus belongs to North America. It is 

 represented in the West by P. schistacea, Baird, in the Rocky 

 Mountains and west to the Sierra Nevada; by P. mqinrhyuchn, 

 Baird, in the southern portion of the Pacific coast ranges, and by 

 P. unahmchcciisis (Gmel.) along the more northeiTi poiiion of the 

 Pacific Coast. All these fonns intergi-ade either with one another or 

 with P. Uiartt, but whether these intergradations are due to hybridism 

 or bear the more important sigiiilicaiu'e whicli has been assigned 

 to them, future knowledge alone can decide. 



Passerella iliaca (Mcrrem). 



FOX 8PAKH0W. 



Popular synonyms. Fo.\-<'olored Sparrow: Uufous Sparrow. 

 FriiHiillii ilinrn Mkkiiem. Beit. Ocsi-h. Vog. il. 17RiV^87. 49, pi. lO.-NuTT. Man. i. INK. M4.— 

 AiiD. Orn. Biog. ii. ISH. 5S; v. 1839. Mi. pi. 10«; Synop. 1SW.11!>; IS. Am. iii.lMI. HP. 

 pl. 185. 



