56 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Passerella townsendi, 



var. 



schistacea, Baird. 



Passerella schistacea, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 490, pi. Ixix, f. 3. 



■^-e^ 



Sp. Char. BiU slender, the length being .34 from nostril, the depth .25 ; the upper 



mandible much swollen at the base ; the under 

 yellow. Above and on the sides uniform slate- 

 gray ; the upper surface of wings, tail-feathers, 

 and upper coverts dark brownish-rufous : ear- 

 coverts streaked with white. Beneath pure 

 white, with broad triangular arrow-shaped and 

 well-defined spots of slate-gray like the back 

 everywhere, except along the middle of the belly ; 

 not numerous on the throat. A hoary spot at the 

 base of the bill above the loral region ; axillars 

 nearly white. Length, 6.80 ; wing, 3.30 ; tail, 3.50. 

 Hab. Head-waters of Platte and middle region of United States to Fort Tejon and to 

 Fort Crook, California. 



This species is readily distinguished from P. iliaca by the slaty back and 

 spots on the breast, the absence of streaks above, and the longer claws. From 

 tow7isendi it differs in having the head, back, sides, and spots beneath slate- 

 colored, instead of dark reddish-brown. The spotting beneath is much more 

 sparse, the spots smaller, more triangular, and confined to the terminal 

 portion of the feathers, instead of frequently involving the entire outer edge. 

 The axillars are paler. The wings and tail are the same in both species. 



The young bird is quite similar ; but the spots beneath are badly defined, 

 more numerous, and longitudinal rather than triangular. 



There can be little doubt, however, that this bird is a geographical race 

 of F. townsendi. 



Habits. For all that we know in regard to the habits and general distri- 

 bution of this species, we are indebted to the observations of Mr. Ridgway, 

 who met with it while accompanying Mr. Clarence King's geological survey. 

 It was first ol)tained in July, 1856, by Lieutenant F. T. Bryan, on the Platte 

 Eiver, and others were afterwards collected at Fort Tejon by Mr. Xantus. 



Mr. Ridgway found the Slate-colored Sparrow at Carson City, during its 

 spring migrations northward, in the early part of March. At this time it 

 was seen only among the willows along the Carson Eiver, and was by no 

 means common. It had the habit of scratching among the dead leaves, on 

 the ground in the thickets, precisely after the manner of the eastern P. iliaca. 

 In the following September he again found it among the thickets in the 

 Upper Humboldt Valley. In Parley's Park, among the Wahsatch Moun- 

 tains, he found it a very plentiful species in June, nesting among the wil- 

 lows and other shrubbery along the streams. There it was always found in 

 company with the M. fallax, which in song it greatly resembles, though its 

 other notes are quite distinct, the ordinary one being a sharp chuch. The 



