302 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



tail coverts light hair brown; tail a darker hair brown; wings with 2 white 

 bars formed by the tips of the coverts; the secondaries streaked with 

 chestnut and whitish; bill and feet pinkish brown. Young, in the fall much 

 more ocherous in color, the crown light chestnut rufous on the sides with 

 a median stripe of ocherous, but not strongly contrasted with the chestnut 

 rufous ; the line backward from the eye more grayish in color but not white 

 as in the adult; bill and legs, however, a brown, almost as pinkish as in 

 the adult. 



Length 6.75-7.5 inches; extent 9.85-10.3; wing 3-3.3; tail 2.8-3.1; 

 exposed culmen .42; tarsus .95. 



Distribution. This subspecies of the White-crowned sparrow breeds 

 from central Keewatin and northern Ungava to southeastern Keewatin, 

 central Quebec and southern Greenland, and in the mountains to southern 

 Oregon and central California, Wyoming and New Mexico; winters from 

 southern Kansas, the Ohio valley and the Potomac valley to Mississippi 

 and the Mexican plateau. 



In New York this bird has been reported as breeding on 2 or 3 occasions 

 in the northern part of the State but, as no breeding specimens have ever 

 been taken and as the nest and eggs have not been positively identified by 

 comparison with unquestioned specimens of the species, I am inclined 

 to think that these records are based on errors. No one has been able 

 to find the White-crowned sparrow nesting in any portion of the Adiron- 

 dacks or of the surrounding country in recent years. It is, however, a 

 common transient in nearly all portions of the State, arriving from the 

 south, in the warmer districts, from the 23d to the 30th of April; in other 

 parts of the State from the 1st to the 12th of May, and passes northward 

 from the 18th to the 25th or even the 30th of May. In the fall the first 

 arrivals are recorded between the 25th of September and the 12th of 

 October, the species passing on to the south usually between the 10th and 

 the 24th of October, although specimens are sometimes observed in the 

 southern part of the State as late as the 17th of November; and one or 

 two winter records of birds seen have been reported. 



Haunts and habits. This is one of our neatest and most elegant 

 sparrows, usually found in more open places than the White-throat, espe- 



