PASSEREf.LA MEGAKIIYNCIIA. 485 



fill in tho lower valleys. In I'ialey's Park it was a ratlier cc.nnn..n snnnner 

 resident, inhabiting the ojjen slopes or level pieces of frroiin.l eovered by 

 low shrubs, weeds, and grass, in company with Zomtndda Ivucophrys and 

 Pooecdes coufinis. We did not hear its song, but its ordinary note was a 

 rather strong chuck, much like that of PassereUa sclmtacea. In the antunm 

 it was common among the willows along Deep Creek, in northwestern Utah, 

 and in April was quite abundant in the bushy fields at the base of the Sierra 

 Nevada, near Carson City, particularly in jjlaces near sja-ings or close Ijy 

 the streams. 



List of specimenn. 



563, 9 ad.; Carsoa City, Nevada, April 29, 18G8. 5/^-7J— 2g— 2. Ui)i)er niaudi- 

 bk', blackisli, toniiuiu and lower mandible, dull brownisL-asliy ; rictus, pale yellow; iris, 

 bister; tarsi and toes, dilute liorncolor. 



1*32, <J ad.; Upper HuuHloldt Valley, Sei)teniber 10, 1868. ^^l—^—2y\—^^ J— 3^— 

 2iV Upper mandible, plumbeous-blaek, the tomium pale yellowisholive; lower mandi- 

 ble, pale grayish-olive, more yellowish basally; rictus, light yellow; iris, hiizel ; tar.si, 

 pale brown, toes darker. 



049, <J ad.; Deep Creek, Utah, October .5, 18(iS. .5J_7J— (?)_2J. Upper mandi 

 ble, dull plumbeous-black, tomium and lower maudible, light dull cinereous, more yel- 

 lowisli-lilaceous basally beneath; rictus, pale yellow; iris, sei>iadrab; tarsi and toes, 

 pale horn-color. 



1276, nest and eggs (4); Parley's Park, WahsatcU Mountains, Utah, June 21, 

 1869. Nest on ground, beneath prostrate sage-bush, near stream. 



Passeeella megaehyncua. 



Tbick-billcd Sparrow. 



Fasserclla nmjarhynvha, Baird, IJiids N. Am., 18.58, 92,">, pi. LXIX, fig. 1; (^at. N. 



Am. Birds, 1859, No. 376a.— Cooper, Orn. Cal., I, 1870, 222. 

 PassereUa townsendi var. megarhyncha, B. B. & It., Uist. N, Am. Birds, II, 1874, 



57, pi. xxviii, fig. 10. 



I'aMerella towmendi var. svhistacea, CoUES, Birds N.W., 1874, 162 (part). 



This very interesting bird was met with onl)- in the ravines of the 

 Sierra Nevada, near Carson City and Waslu>e. Unlike P. scJmtucca, it was 

 strictly a migrant, being entirely absent during the winter, and not arriving 

 from the south until about the 20tli of April. It was found mostly in 

 damp or swampy jdaces in the lower portion of the mountains, and was 

 particularly numerous where the alders grew abundantly along the streams. 

 In such places they were singing loudly on every hand, and their soilgs, 



