Z. LEUCOPHRYS : WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW. 27$ 



WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW. 



ZONOTRICHIA LEUCOPHRYS (Forst.) SlV. 



Chars. Adult, of both sexes : Crown of head white, enclosing a 

 broad black band on either side, which meets its fellow across 

 forehead and descends to fill the lores, and bounded by a black 

 stripe from the eye to the nape ; lower eyelid white. General 

 color dark ash, paler below than above, whitening on chin and 

 belly, brownish on the flanks and under tail-coverts, the middle 

 of the back streaked with purplish-bay and ashy-white. Wing- 

 coverts and inner quills edged with bay ; wings with two white 

 cross-bars ; no yellow on head or wing; bill and feet reddish. 

 Young : The black of the head of the adults replaced by rich 

 warm brown, the white by pale brown, and the general ashy color 

 obscured with brownish. Size of Z. albicollis. 



This elegant Sparrow, not inferior in size and 

 beauty to the last species described, is a bird of the 

 same general habits and appearance, and somewhat 

 similar distribution ; but it is on the whole more north- 

 erly, more irregular in its appearance, and not so 

 common. It is placed by Mr. Allen in the same 

 Faunal category as the White-throat, as a species lim- 

 ited in southern distribution in the breeding season 

 by the Canadian Fauna ; but might perhaps be belter 

 considered as a member of the Hudsonian, though cer- 

 tainly overlapping the other. It is scarcely known in 

 New England except as a migrant and occasional 

 winter loiterer in southern portions. It is, however, au- 

 thenticated as breeding within our limits. Dr. Brewer 

 has given such a record (Bull. Nutt. Club, iii, 1878, 

 p. 195), Mr. H. E. Boughton, of Rutland, Vermont, 

 having found a pair breeding in that locality. The 

 nest was situated in a clump of blackberry and maple 



