418 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



rusty or rufous, and the black streaks narrower ; rufous of crown 

 paler and frequently (especially in winter) with distinctly indicated 

 (sometimes broad and continuous) median ashy stripe ; outer webs 

 of greater wing-coverts and tertials paler, more buffy or ochraceous ; 

 whitish edgings to tail-feathers broader, wings and tail longer, bill 

 rather more slender, etc. ; length about 6.00-6.75, wing 2.80-3.15 

 (3.07), tail 2.65-3.05 (2.85). Eggs .78 X -55. Hab. Western North 

 America, breeding in Alaska (and for an undetermined distance 

 southward), wintering in western United States, south to Texas, 

 New Mexico, and Arizona. 



559a. S. monticola ochracea BREWST. Western Tree Sparrow. 

 b 1 . Wing without two distinct white bands ; lower mandible without yellow ; 



adult without dusky spot in^ centre of chest. 

 c 1 . Wing decidedly longer than tail. 



<P. Tarsus less than twice as long as culmen ; a distinct dusky streak 



behind eye. 



e 1 . Colors lighter, the adult with crown deep rufous and lower 

 parts whitish or very pale ashy. Summer adult : Top of 

 head rufous, sometimes with a more or less distinct indica- 

 tion of an ashy median line ; forehead black, divided by a 

 white median line; a broad white or pale grayish super- 

 ciliary stripe, bounded below by a narrow blackish stripe 

 through eye; ear-coverts and sides of neck ashy; lower 

 parts white or ashy white, more tinged with ashy on sides ; 

 bill black. Winter adult: Essentially similar to summer 

 plumage, but colors duller and darker, more or less tinged 

 with brown on lower parts, black on forehead indistinct or 

 obsolete, and rufous of crown usually more or less streaked 

 with dusky; bill cinnamon-brownish. Young: Top of head 

 light brownish, distinctly streaked with blackish; super- 

 ciliary stripe buffy whitish, narrowly streaked with dusky ; 

 breast, etc., streaked with dusky. Nest in trees or bushes, 

 often about houses, composed -of slender grass-stems, etc., 

 and lined with horse-hairs. Eggs 3-5, light greenish blue, 

 speckled, chiefly on larger end, with black and brown. 

 /*. Darker colored, the back decidedly tinged with rusty and 

 more broadly streaked with black, ear-coverts usu- 

 ally deeper gray, more distinctly contrasted with purer 

 white superciliary stripe and throat, the wings and tail 

 averaging decidedly shorter; length 5.00-5.85, wing 

 2 55-2.90 (2.75), tail 2.20-2.60 (2.37). Eggs .69 X -50. 

 Hab. Eastern North America, north in the interior 

 to Great Slave Lake, west to Great Plains ; wintering 

 from about 40 southward. 



560. S. socialis (WiLs.). Chipping Sparrow. 



