152 THE SOOTY FOX SPARROW. 



No. 62. 



SOOTY lOX SPARROW. 



A. 0. U. No. 583a (parti. Passcrolla iliaca fuliKinosa Ridgway. 



Description. — .hlults: L'ppcriiarts, sides of head, neck, and lateral undcr- 

 parts nearly uniform dark brown (sepia brown — "sooty" not inai)proi)riatc ), 

 warminjj slifjhtly uikmi exposed surfaces of wings and upon ruinj) and outer 

 edges of rectrices; below white save for under tail-coverts, which have clear 

 InilTy wash, everywhere save on middle belly iieavily marked with large, chiefly 

 triangular, s])ots of the color of back or darker — spotting heaviest on breast 

 where nearly confluent. Bill black above shading on sides into yellow of lower 

 mandible; feet pale ruddy brown or wine-color. Length (of a single fresh 

 specimen) 7.45 (191. 7) ; wing (av. ) 3.21 (81.5) ; tail 2.91 (77) ; bill .48 ( 12.2) ; 

 tarsus 1.02 (25.0). 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow to Chewink size; uniform sooty brown col- 

 oration of head and uppeqiarts; heavily spotted below with sepia or blackish; 

 darker al)ove and more heavily spotted below than any migrant form of the 

 P. I. uiialaschciisis group. 



Nesting. — Ncsl: a bulky structure with a broad, flat brim, of mosses, grasses, 

 twigs, woody fibers, weed-stalks, often heavily lined with fine dry grass of 

 contrasting color and with an inner mat of fur, hair or feathers; placed at 

 moderate heights in thickets or saplings ; measures externally 6 inches across 

 by 3 dee]), internally 2'^i across by i^s deep. Eggs: 4. greenish blue, spotted, 

 or spotted and clouded, with reddish brown. Av. size, .94 x .68 (23.8x17.3). 

 Season: May-July; two broods. 



General Range.— Summer resident in coast region of British Columbia and 

 ncrthwotern Washington; in winter south along the coast to San I'rancisco. 



Range in Washington. — Breeding on the San Juan Islands and nixjn the 

 iiorllurn and western shores of the Olympic Teninsida ; not uncommon migrant 

 on I'uget Sound. 



Authorities. — ( ?) I'>aird. Kej). Tac. etc.. 48*^ jiart ; ( ?) Ccxjper and Siickley 

 Rep. I'ac, etc., 204 part; ( ?) Sclater Cat. .\ni. Bircls, 1862, 119 part ( Simiahmoo 

 (sic) ) ; Ridgway. .\uk, X\I. Jan. 1899, 36 ( .Neah Bay). Kb. E. 



Specimens. — Prov. BN. E. 



THI{ niyslery of the Fox Sparrow dears a little as we move northward 

 on Pugct Sound, and may even resolve itself one day as we spend a lazy 

 July in camp on one of the San Juan islands. We are inizzlcd, as the tent 

 pegs are being driven, by certain sprightly songs bursting out now here, now 

 there, from the co])se. We labor under a sence of avian surveillance as we 

 gather fuel from the beach, but the songs are too joyous and limjjid to make 

 precise connections with anything in previous experience. It is not till the 

 cool of the evening, when we seek the spring, hack in the depths of the 

 thicket, that we come up'^n a fair birdmaiden slyly regaling herself u\^m a 



