150 ; THE TOWNSEND SPARROW. 
No. 61. 
TOWNSEND’S SPARROW. 
A. O. U. No. 585 a (part). Passerella iliaca townsendi (Audubon). 
[Description of P. i. annectens (Yakutat Fox Sparrow).—‘Similar to P. 1. 
imsularis but smaller (the bill especially) and coloration slightly browner” 
(Ridgw.).] 
Description.—4dults: Similar to P. 1. annectens but coloration darker and 
richer (inclining to chestnut brown) ; spots on chest, etc., larger. ““Above deep 
vandyke brown, duller (more sooty) on pileum, more reddish (inclining to burnt 
umber or dark chestnut brown) on upper tail-coverts and tail; sides of head deep 
sooty brown, the lores dotted, the auricular region finely streaked, with dull 
whitish; general color of underparts white, but everywhere spotted or streaked 
with deep chestnut brown or vandyke brown, the spots mostly of triangular 
(deltoid and cuneate) form, very heavy and more or less confluent on chest, 
smaller on throat and breast; sides and flanks almost uniform deep brown, the 
latter tinged with buffy or pale tawny, under tail-coverts deep olive or olive-brown 
broadly margined with buffy or pale fulvous.” Length of adult male (skins): 
6.67 (169.4); wing 3.17 (80.5); tail 2.78 (70.6); bill .47 (11.9); tarsus 
1.00 (25.4). ; 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; warm brown (nearly uniform) colora- 
tion of upperparts; heavy spotting of chest, etc. Absence of distinctive head 
markings will distinguish bird from local Song Sparrows, and robust form with 
conical beak from migrating Hermit Thrushes. 
Nesting.—As next. Does not breed in Washington. 
General Range.—‘‘Coast district of southern Alaska (islands and coast of 
mainland from southern side of Cross Sound, Lynn Canal, ete., to north side of 
Dixon Entrance) ; in winter, south to northern California” (Ridgway ). 
Range in Washington.—Common migrant and (possibly) winter resident 
west of Cascades. 
Authorities.—? Fringilla townsendi Audubon, Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 236, pl. 
424, fig. 7 (Columbia River). ‘Townsend, Narrative (1839), p. 345. Passerella 
townsendii, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. [X. 1858, p. 489. C&S. Ra. Kk. B. 
H(A). 
Specimens.—(U. of W.) Prov. B. C. 
TIME was when all the various Fox Sparrows of the Pacific North- 
west were lumped together under the name Townsend’s Sparrow. A more 
critical age, however, under the leadership of Professor Ridgway, has 
resolved the bewildering array of shifting browns into five forms, or sub- 
species, assigning to each summer quarters according to the dullness or 
brightness of its coat. The end is not yet, of course, but the distinctions 
already made are sufficiently attenuated to cause the public to yawn. Suffice 
it to say, that this is one of the plastic species long resident on the Pacific 
