134 THE GAMBEL SPARROW. 
No. 53. 
GAMBEL’S SPARROW. 
A. O. U. No. 554a. Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii (Nuttall). 
Synonyms.—INTERMEDIATE-CROWNED SPARROW. INTERMEDIATE SPARROW. 
Description.—Adults: Crown pure white, becoming gray behind; lateral 
crown-stripes meeting in front, and post-ocular stripes, jet black, separated by 
white stripe continuous with lore; remainder of head, neck all around, and entire 
underparts slaty gray, darkest on nape, whitening on chin and belly, with a 
tawny wash on flanks and crissum; back and scapulars brown (burnt umber) 
edged with gray; rump and upper tail-coverts tawny olivaceous; wings and tail 
fuscous, the tertials dark-centered with edgings of bay and white; middle and 
greater coverts tipped with white, forming two inconspicuous wing-bars; rectrices 
with brown shafts and tawny edgings, bill reddish brown above, saffron yellow 
below, with tip of maxilla black. Young of the year have the black of head 
replaced by light chestnut, and the white by ochraceo-fuscous or gray; in general 
darker and browner above than adult. Length 6.50-7.00 (165-180); wing 3.07 
(78) ; tail 2.76 (70); bill .42 (10.7); tarsus .89 (22.5). 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; broad white crown and jet black lateral 
stripes strongly contrasting; slightly larger and general coloration lighter than in 
Z. 1. nuttalli; white crown-stripe broader. 
Nesting.—As next; not known to breed in Washington but probably does so. 
General Range.—Western North America, breeding from Montana, eastern 
Oregon, etc., northward between coast mountains of British Columbia and Alaska 
and the interior plains to the lower Mackenzie and Anderson River Valleys, thence 
westward thruout Alaska to the coast of Bering Sea; in winter southward across 
western United States into Mexico and Lower California, straggling eastward 
across the Great Plains. 
Range in Washington.—Abundant spring and fall migrant on the East-side, 
possibly summer resident; doubtless migrant west of Cascades, but no specimens 
taken. 
Migrations.—Spring: April 20-May 20. Wallula, April 24, 1905; Chelan, 
April 24, 1896; Brook Lake, June 7, 1908. 
Authorities—/ringilla gambelii Nuttall, Man. Orn. U. S. & Canada, 2d 
Ed., 1, 1840, 556. Z. gambeli intermedia Brewster, B. N. O. C. VII. 1882, p. 
Pag, ID Sigs IDA; INS J 
Specimens.—U. of W. C. P. 
IT IS probably safe to say that during the height of their spring migra- 
tions, viz., April 15th to May 15th, these birds exceed in numbers all the 
other sparrows of eastern Washington combined. Indeed, on certain occa- 
sions, it would seem that they are more numerous than all other birds com- 
bined. And this altho they do not move in great flocks in the open, like 
Redpolls, but flit and skulk wherever there is show of cover. Wayside 
thickets, spring draws, and the timbered banks of streams are favorite places. 
The more isolated the cover the more certain it is to be held as a Zonotrichian 
