WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW. 19 



White=crowned Sparrow. 



ZONOTRACIIIA LEUCOPHRYS. 



Plate III, Fig. 2. 



Generally similar to the White -throated Sparrow, but dif- 

 fers in being much grayer above ( dark reddish brown) in all 

 stages of plumage, in the absence of yellow in fi-ont of the 

 eye and on the edge of wing, and in having the throat not 

 conspicuously white, but tinged with grayish. 



Young and nestlings, the former in obscured plumage, and 

 the latter streaked beneath, may be distinguished from sim- 

 ilar plumages in the White-throated Sparrow by the grayer 

 tints. 



Dimensions. Length, 7.08: stretch 10.50; wing, 3.25, 

 tail, 2.85; bill, .40: tarsus, .82. 



Comparisons. Readily distinguished from all of our Spar- 

 rows by the very gray tints to the whole surface of the body 

 and by the prominent stripes of black and white of the head. 



Nests and Eggs. Nests placed on the ground in a clump 

 of bushes, composed of grass and weeds, lined with fine grass. 

 Eggs, usually four in number, oval in fjrm, thickly spotted 

 and dotted over the entire surface with reddish brown, often 

 so thickly on the large end as to completely obscure the 

 ground color. 



General Habits. The White-crowned Sparrow is a spring 

 and fall migrant in New England, and although considered 

 quite rare in Massachusetts, some may be seen every season. 

 Like the White-throats, while migrating they frequent thick- 



