iS^3.] Mearns on the American Sparro-w //azvks. ^^Q 



dull black on quills, sparingly spotted with black on under wing-coverts; 

 top of head, bluish gray ; forehead, car-coverts, an inconspicuous super- 

 ciliary line, and chin, white; moustache, a large postauricular patch and 

 three cervical patches, black. Iris, hazel. Bill, cere, tarsi and toes, deep 

 chrome; claws black. 



Adult Female (based on No. 77,907. Smiths. Inst., Laurel, Maryland, 

 May 4, 1879, collected by G. Marshall). — Upper surfoce of body cinna- 

 mon rufous, inclining to castaneous, transversely barred with blackish ; 

 quills dusky, barred with rusty and white. Below dirty white, with 

 markings of sepia on chest and sides, the spots being chiefly linear on the 

 chest, and subcordate on the flanks; posteriorly immaculate. Head as in 

 the male. Tail rufous like the back, with about twelve bars of black. 



Toung Male (yio. 1598, Smiths. Inst., Carlisle, Pennsylvania, June 6, 

 1844; collected by S. F. Baird). — Similar to adult male, but with spotting 

 of under surface more as in the adult female, the markings extending 

 across the chest as numerous, lanceolate, black spots. The tips of the 

 quills are broadly edged with whitish ; tip of tail pale rusty, plumbeous 

 on central feathers ; three outer feathers with incomplete bars of black 

 and bluish ash. 



Toung Female (^o. 1599, Smiths. Inst., Carlisle, Pennsylvania, June 

 6, 1844; collected by S. F. Baird). — Similar to adult female, but darker, 

 with the upper surface more castaneous, the markings more diflFused, the 

 under markings nearly all tending to form broadly linear streaks, instead 

 of being cordate on the flanks; under surface tinged with ochraceous; 

 tips of quills edged with rusty white, top of head, including reddish 

 crown patch, with dark shaft-streaks to the feathers. 



Comparison of the specimens from east of the Mississippi 

 River, excluding those from Florida and the Gulf Coast, shows 

 the following variations. The rusty crown patch varies greatly 

 in size, often being restricted to a mere trace, and is wholly ab- 

 sent in six specimens, five males and one female, two of which 

 are from ConnectiAit, three from Pennsylvania, and one (female) 

 from Mt. Carmel, Illinois, representing both winter and summer 

 plumages. The absence or restriction of the crown patch seems 

 to be indicative of a high degree of development, occurring in 

 very old males, and associated with less spotting of the under sur- 

 face, and extension of a bluish color — so characteristic of extreme 

 adolescense in the genus Falco — to the crown, back, scapulars, 

 rump and tail ; but it should be remarked, in jDassing, that the 

 amount of variegation of the tail with black and white on the 

 outer feathers, or of gray and black barring, appears to be partly 

 dependent on age, and subject to extreme variation in specimens 

 from the same locality, some having only a portion of the outer 



