486 ORNlXnOLOGY. 



when first heard, seemed so simihir to those of the Large-billed Water 

 Thrush {Scirrus liidovicianus), of the east, that they were mistaken for the 

 notes of that bird, nntil the singers were seen and the species identified. 

 The song possessed but Httle resembhmce to that of the /'. schistacea, being 

 so far superior as to be comparable only to that of the bird above men- 

 tioned, its chief qualities being great volume and liquidness. 



List of specimens. 



530, (? ad.; Carsou City, Nevada, April 25, 1868. 7J— lOj^",.— 34— L'[i. Gcueral 

 hue of bill, milky lilaceous white, palest and purest ou lower mandible, which has a 

 delicate rosy tint basally beneath; culmen, pale plumbeous sepia; iris, bister; tarsi 

 and toes, deep, rather dilute sepia brown. 



531, 9 ad.,- Carsou City, Nevada, April 25, 18G8. 7—93—3^2/5. Same re- 

 uiaiks. 



PaSSERELLA SCHISTACEA. 



Slute-colorcd Sparrow. 



Passcrella schistacea, Baird, B. N. Am., 1858, -190, pi. LXix, fig. 3; Cat. N. Am. 



B., 1859, No. 37C.— Cooi'ER, Orn. Cal., I, 1870, 223 (figs, of head and feet). 

 Pafserclla iliaca var. schistacea, Anlen, Bulb Mus. Corap. Zool., Ill, 1872, 168. — 



CouES, Key, 1872, 147. 

 Pa^serella toicmcndi var. schistacea, CoUES, Key, 1872, 352 ; Check List, 1873, No. 



lS9a ; B. N.W., 1874, 162.— B. B. & K., Hist. N. Am. B., II, 1874, 56, pi. 



xxviii, fig. 9.— Henshaw, 1875, 293. 



This species was first met with at Carson City, Nevada, during its 

 northward migration, wliich bciian late in February or early in March, 

 some few individuals having doul>tless remained during the wint«- in the 

 shelter of the dense willow-thickets along the river. The following Septem- 

 ber it was observed in similar localities in the Upper Humboldt Valley ; 

 we may therefore judge that it is found, in proper season, and in suitable 

 localities, throughout the country between the Sieira Nevada and the 

 Wahsatch. During the summer months it was one of the commonest birds 

 in Parley's Park, where it was a constant associate of Mdospiza fallax in 

 the willow-thickets. It is (juite a counterpart of that species in manners 

 and notes, while the nests and eggs are similar to such a degree that it often 

 required the sacrifice of the parent, and always a very close observation 

 for the positive identification of the species. The ordinary note is a sharj) 

 chuck ; but the song is scarcely distinguishable from that of Melospiza fallar. 



