FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 337 



As he sits he has a trick of raising his crown every few minutes, 

 calling especial attention to his directive face marking, and the 

 moment he flies his white tail crescent shows conspicuously. 



He is much in evidence, not only from his abundance and his con- 

 spicuous markings but from his musical song, which is heard almost 

 continuously wherever he is found. The song is long and varied and 

 has a purring phrase which is especially characteristic. Like the 

 house finch he sings with fine fervor when dancing before his mate 

 with spread tail and quivering wings. 



GENUS ZONOTRICHIA. 



General Characters. Bill small, compressed, conical ; tail nearly or quite 

 as long as wing 1 , slightly rounded ; tarsus not more than a third the length 

 of tail. 



KEY TO ADULT MALES. 



1. Top of head wholly black or mottled querula, p. 337. 



1'. Top of head striped. 



2. Crown with yellow patch COronata, p. 839 



2'. Crown striped black and white. 



3. Throat with white patch albicollis, p. 340. 



3'. Throat without white patch. 



4. Lores black leucophrys, p. 338. 



4'. Lores not black. 



5. Back ashy, marked with brown .... gambelii, p. 339. 

 5'. Back olivaceous, marked with blackish . . nuttalli, p. 339. 



553. Zonotrichia querula (Nutt.). HARRIS SPARROW. 



Adults. Top of head and throat solid black, black streaking down 

 over middle of breast ; rest of under parts 

 white; sides and flanks buff y "brown, streaked 

 with darker brown ; upper parts brown ; 

 back and scapulars streaked with blackish ; 

 wings with two white bars. Young, first 



plumage (described by Preble) : upper parts blackish, feathers edged with 

 buffy and brown ; wing quills edged with buff y and brown ; tail feathers 

 edged and tipped with whitish ; sides of head and under parts buffy ; 

 malar stripe conspicuous ; chest and sides streaked with black. Male : 

 length (skins) 6.46-7.33, wing 3.43-3.60, tail 3.14-3.3S, bill .50-.52. Fe- 

 male: length (skins) 6.66-6.95, wing 3.15-3.35, tail 3.04-3.16, bill .48-.51. 



Remarks. Some specimens have black throat patch and crown feath- 

 ers tipped with grayish. Mr. Ridgway thinks these may be young birds. 



Distribution. Breeds at Ft. Churchill, Hudson Bay, Artillery Lake, 

 and probably Great Bear Lake ; winters from Kansas to southern Texas. 



Nest. One, on ground, under a dwarf birch, made of grass. 



The breeding range of the Harris sparrow was unknown until 

 Mr. Treble's 1900 Fort Churchill record. The last of July among 

 the dwarf spruces of Fort Churchill he found an adult male and 

 female with young just from the nest. In 1907 the first nest was 

 found by Mr. E. T. Seton, at Artillery Lake, near Great Slave Lake, 



