FRINGILLIDZ, FINCHES, ETC.—GEN. 77, °78. 147 
77. Genus PASSERELLA Swainson. 
Fox Sparrow. General color ferrugineous or rusty red, purest and 
brightest on the rump, tail and wings, on the other upper parts appearing as 
streaks laid on an ashy ground; below, white, variously but thickly marked 
except on the belly and crissum with rusty red —the markings anteriorly in 
the form of diffuse confluent blotches, on the breast and 
sides consisting chiefly of sharp sagittate spots and. pointed 
streaks; tips of middle and greater coverts forming two 
whitish wing-bars; upper mandible dark, lower mostly 
yellow; feet pale—the lateral toes so lengthened that the 
tips of their claws fall far beyond the base of the middle 
claw; this is a diagnostic feature, not shared by any other yy¢. 91. pin of Fox 
streaked sparrow. A large handsome species. 63-74 long ; CE ak 
wing and tail, each, 3 or more; sexes alike, and young not particularly 
different. Eastern North America, abundant. Wruts., iii, 53, pl. 24, f. 4; 
Nort., i, 514; Aup., iii, 139, pl. 186; Bp., 488. P. obscura VerRRILL, 
rocer Bost. soc. Nat. Hists 1x) 1862, pi 143, 2. .5-.. 9. 5s. TLTACA. 
Var. TOWNSENDIL. With the same size and pattern of coloration, but darker ; 
above, continuous olive-brown, with a rusty shade; rump, tail and wings rather 
brighter; no whitish wing-bars; below, the markings of the color of the back, 
close, and illy defined. Pacific coast. Avp., iii, 143, pl. 187; Nurv., i, 2d ed. 
533; Bp., 489; Coop., 221. 
Var. scurstaceA. Similar to the last; above continuous slate-gray, with little 
rufous on wings and tail, the spots below slate-colored, sparse, small, sharp. 
Rocky Mountain region, U.S. Bo., 490, 925, pl. 69, f. 3, 4 (megarhynchus — large- 
billed form from Cala.) ; Coop., 222. 
Oss. P. schistacea and townsendii are certainly not distinct specifically from each 
other, but it may be a question whether they do not form two races of a species 
different from iliaca. In all three cases, however, the difference is solely in the 
relative intensity and predominance of certain common colors; and although the 
Western and Eastern forms may not have been shown to intergrade, they differ from 
each other less than some of the recognized varieties of Melospiza do from the Kast- 
ern song sparrow, and in a parallel manner. 
78. Genus CALAMOSPIZA Bonaparte. 
Lark Bunting. White-winged Blackbird. §$ entirely black, with a 
large white patch on the wings, and the quills and tail feathers frequently 
marked with white; bill dark horn above, paler below; feet brown; 6-63; 
wing 33; tail 2?. Sexes unlike: Q resembling one of the sparrows, brown 
above, streaked, white below, somewhat streaked, but always known by the 
whitish wing-patch; @ said to wear the black plumage only during the 
breeding season, like the bobolink (Allen). In the form of the bill, this 
interesting species is closely allied to the grosbeaks (Groniaphea) ; and this, 
with the singularly enlarged tertiaries, as long as the primaries in the closed 
wing, renders it unmistakable in any plumage. A prairie bird, abundant on 
