GROSBEAKS, FINCHES, SPARROWS: Family Fringillidae [583] 



Alberta Fox Sparrow: 



Passerella iliaca altivagans Riley 



DESCRIPTION. (Type specimen in fresh fall plumage.) "Upper parts generally 

 mummy brown, most ruddy on dorsum, dullest on rump. Feathers of dorsum with 

 dark centers, giving an obscurely streaked effect. Sides of neck washed with 

 grayish. Upper tail coverts auburn, with narrow edgings of paler brown; exposed 

 portion of rectrices auburn. Under parts white, chin, throat and abdomen nearly 

 immaculate, elsewhere marked with triangular spots, varying in color from some 

 the same shade as the back, to others suffused with blackish. Exposed portion of 

 wing coverts and remiges auburn, like tail. Median and greater wing coverts 

 slightly tipped with whitish, forming two ill-defined bars." (Swarth 19x0.) Wing 

 3.07-3.37, tail 1.70-3.15, bill .39-. 45. Nest: On ground or in bushes, made of moss 

 and leaves. Eggs: 3 or 4, bluish green or gray, speckled and blotched with brown 

 and lilac. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in interior of British Columbia and Alberta. Winters 

 in California, chiefly west of desert divides. 



RILEY (1911) listed the Alberta Fox Sparrow from Fort Klamath, and 

 Swarth (19x0) recorded a specimen of Jewett's from Government Island 

 as belonging to this race. We have at the present time the following speci- 

 mens from Oregon: Government Island (December 15, 1912., Jewett); 

 Millers, Wasco County (April n, 1915, Alex Walker, now in Jewett 

 Coll.); Prineville (October 17, 192.4, W. E. Sherwood, now in Jewett 

 Coll.); Mosquito Ranger Station, Jackson County (September 2.9, 192.6, 

 Gabrielson); and Hart Mountain, Lake County (September 14, 1918, 

 Jewett). This wide scattering of records indicates that these birds move 

 in a broad belt southward through Oregon on their way to their Cali- 

 fornia wintering grounds. 



The Fox Sparrows that appear in Oregon, particularly in migration, 

 are so variable and represent so many closely related subspecies that any 

 attempt to separate them in the field is hopeless. The breeding birds of 

 the Cascades, Siskiyous, and eastern Oregon ranges represent the "slate- 

 colored" group of forms, whereas the majority of the migrants in western 

 Oregon are the rich brown forms from the Alaska and British Columbia 

 coast. 



We are giving the measurements of wing, tail, and bill in the various 

 races, although differences in size are often too slight to be of practical 

 use. All of the races measure approximately 6 to 7 inches in length 

 the birds being among our larger sparrows. We have indicated distribu- 

 tion and localities of the various forms solely on the basis of collected 

 specimens, as we have no faith in our own sight records or those of other 

 observers. 



The large dark-colored Fox Sparrows are normally birds of the brush 

 and weed patches and are often shy and elusive while in the State. They 

 feed largely on the ground, scratching vigorously to uncover the seeds 



