08 FOX-COLORED SPARROW. 



Fox-coiored 5parrovv. 



Passerella iliaca. 

 Plate XVI, Fig. 1. 

 Strong, stout Sparrows, over seven inches long. General 

 color above, light rufus with rump ashy, and the feathers of 

 back and head are edged with ashy. There are narrow, white 

 wing bars. Beneath, white, spotted and streaked with ruf- 

 us on side of neck, breast and along sides. The spots accumu- 

 late on the centre of the breast to forma patch, which is dark- 

 er than the markings elsewhere. Bill, brown, with the low- 

 er mandible orange. Young, similar, but rather more rufus 

 above, with the ashy edgings less apparant. 



Dimensions. Length, 7.20 ; stretch, 11.25 ; wing, 3.00; 

 tail, 3.30 ; bill, .20 : tarsus, .70. 



Comparisons. This is the most rufus of all our Sparrows, 

 this color and the larger size will serve to distinguish it. 



Nests AND Eggs. Nests, placed on the ground, usually 

 concealed beneath the overhanging branches of low evergreens. 

 They are large, rather deeply cup-shaped structures, four inch- 

 es in diameter, by four in depth, composed of dried grass, and 

 moss, lined with feathers. Eggs four or five in number, oval 

 in form, pale green in color, spotted, blotched, and dotted, 

 quite thickly and somewhat coarsely with reddish brown, with 

 an under tinting of lilac markings. Dimensions from .85 to 

 .62. 



Genlral Habits. This large, fine Sparrow is a very com- 

 mon spring and autumnal migrant in New England, arriving 

 from the south, about the middle of the month, and some ling- 

 er until the last week in April. While with us, they occur in 



