1910] Grinnell—Birds: Alaska Expedition, 1908. 405 
The nest found by Miss Alexander, June 10, was well con- 
cealed in a rather straggling clump of the stiff brush charac- 
terizing the local habitat of the species. It was located at the 
base of a low-lying branch that almost completely covered it. 
The nest (no. 39) presents a firm structure, externally 67 mm. 
deep, by 100 in width. This does not, however, probably include 
whatever peripheral loosely laid materials there may have been. 
The cup-shaped cavity is 38 mm. deep, by 53 wide. Externally 
the nest consists of layers of brown willow leaves of the previous 
season. Within this, and making up the rim, is a basket-work 
of rather coarse, weathered, grayish stems and blades of grass. 
Finally the nest-lining is of fine, round, yellowed grasses. 
The nest contained four eggs, three of which are of a clouded 
type of coloration, and the remaining one of the distinctly 
spotted type. This diversity and disproportion in the eggs of 
one set is a common condition with song sparrows. In the pre- 
dominating type the ground color is a pale Nile blue, over which 
is laid a crowded mass of more or less blurred markings of hazel, 
liver brown, clay color and yinaceous. These markings are 
agglomerated into an indistinct ring around the larger end. The 
odd type of coloration, represented in the single egg out of the 
four, looks much brighter than the other. This is due to the 
clear-cut markings, leaving more of the contrasting ground color 
displayed. The markings are relatively more sparse, except 
around the large end where they are concentrated in a distinct 
ring. The colors are the same as in the other type, except that 
a brighter shade of brown is apparent, approximating the liver 
brown of Ridgway’s ‘‘Nomenclature of Colors.”’ 
The eggs are ovate in shape, and measure: 18.5 & 13.9, 18 x 
14, 18.5 X 13.8, 18.4 & 13.7. 
Passerella iliaca sinuosa, new subspecies. 
Valdez Fox Sparrow. 
Type.—J adult; no. 1593, Univ. Calif. Mus. Vert. Zool. ; Drier 
Bay, Knight Island, Prince William Sound, Alaska; August 26, 
1908; collected by J. Dixon. 
COMPARATIVE CHARACTERS.—Perhaps nearest to Passerella 
iliaca wnalaschensis, but differs from that.form in smaller and 
