150 THE TOWNSEXD SI'ARR^V. 



No. 01. 

 roWXSEND'S SPARROW. 



.\. O. L'. .No. 585.1 (parti. I'asserclla iliaca tow n.scndi 1 .\iuliilx>ii 1. 



[Dcscri/'tioii of /'. i. anin'ctciis ( Vakutat Fo.\ Sparrow). — "Similar to /'. 1. 

 iiisiiUirix but snialler (the hill esjiccially ) and coloration slightly browner" 

 (Ki.l(,'w. ).| 



Description. — .Idiilts: Similar lu /'. 1. aiiiu-ctciis hut coloration darker and 

 richer (inclining to chotimt hmwn); s])ots on chest, etc., larger. ".Mjove ileep 

 Vandyke brown, duller (more sooty ) -on pileum. more rcililish (inclining to burnt 

 umber or dark chestinit brown ) on upi)er tail-coverts and tail ; sides of head <lcep 

 sooty brown, the lores dotted, the auricular region fmely streaked, with dull 

 whitish; general color of underparts white, but everywhere spotted or streaked 

 with deej) chestnut brown or Vandyke brown, the sjxjts mostly of triangular 

 (deltoid and cutieate ) form, very heavy and more or less confluent on chest, 

 smaller on throat and breast: si<les and flanks almost uniform deej) brown, the 

 latter tinged with bulTy or ])ale tawny, under tail-coverts dee]) olive or olive-brown 

 broadly margined with bulTy or ])ale 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. — Si)arrow size; warm brown (tiearly uniform) colora- 

 tion of u|)i>erparts : heavy spotting of chest, etc. .\bsencc of distinctive head 

 markings will distinguish bird from local Song Sparrows, and robust form with 

 conical beak from migrating Hermit 'riirushes. 



Nesting. — As next. Does not breed in Washington. 



General Range. — "Coast district of southern .\laska (islands and coast of 

 mainland from sduthcrn side of Cross Sound, Lynn Canal, etc.. to north side of 

 Dixon Entrance) : in winter, south to northern California" ( Ridgway ). 



Range in Washington. — Common migrant and ( jiossibly t winter resident 

 west of Cascades. 



Authorities. — / I'riiiijilla liKciisriidi .\udubon. ( )rn. Hiog. \'. 1839, 236. pi. 

 424, tig. 7 (Columbia River). Townsend, Narrative (1839), p. 345. PasscrcUa 

 tn-u-ti.u'iulii. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. LN. 1858, p. 489. C&S. Ra. Kk. B. 

 E(II I. 



Specimens. — i I', of \\ . ) Prov. 11. C. 



TIME was when all the various Eox Sparrows of the Pacific North- 

 west were lumped together under the name Townscnd's Sparrow. .V more 

 critical age, however, under the leadership of Professor Ridgway, has 

 resolved the bewildering array of shifting browns into five forms, or sub- 

 sjiecies, assigning to each summer quarters according to the dullness or 

 brightness of its coat. The end is not yet, of course, but the distinctions 

 alreaflv made arc sufficiently attenuated to cause the jnihlic to yawn. Suffice 

 it to sav, that this is one of the ])lastic species long resident on the Pacific 



