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of nearly pure white. Though resembling P. Townsendii somewhat 

 in its dark colors and thickly spotted breast, it differs greatly in many 

 respects. The biU is much shorter and thicker, the wings longer and 

 the claws shorter. It is also considerably smaller than any specimen 

 of P. Townsendii that I have seen. The colors above are rufous 

 brown, with darker spots, instead of uniform dark, olive brown. The 

 spots on the breast are also very different, these being very broad, 

 triangular and very dark brown, without any shade of red in T. Town- 

 sendii. The under tail coverts are white, with only a tinge of brown, 

 instead of dark brown, edged with yellowish. 



P. schistacea, Baird, differs from it in having the upper parts and 

 spots on the breast uniform slate, without any streaks on the back ; 

 in having longer claws and tail, and shorter wings. The spots on 

 the breast are also broad, triangular and well defined, instead of 

 being elongated and more or less linear, as in P. obscura. It resem- 

 bles the latter, however, in having a stout, thick biU. 



I at first supposed that the specimens described might be the 

 young of P. iliaca, or some other species, but this is hardly probable, 

 since one of the specimens was shot the first of July, when the young 

 of none of the small birds had been seen large enough to leave the 

 nest. But these specimens have every appearance of being fully 

 adult, and Audubon expressly states that the young attain the adult 

 plumage before leaving Labrador, the 1st of September, and he 

 does not mention any change in their colors previously. But there 

 are other differences that could not well be accounted for by age, 

 such as the stoutness of the bill and claws, and differences in the 

 proportions. 



I am therefore led to believe that there are two species of Passerella 

 in the eastern part of North America, corresponding to the two in the 

 west. Then P. iliaca would be the eastern representative of P. 

 Toivnsendii, and P. obscura of P. schistacea. But there is yet much 

 to learn concerning the geographical range of all these species. 



Of the other species referred to this genus by Bonaparte, P. 

 cinerea (Fringilla cinerea, Aud.), P. rufina and P. unalaschensis 

 appear to belong to the genus Melospiza of Baird. The two first are 

 considered synonymous by him. They all agree in having elongated 

 and acute bills, and the -two first, at least, have the short, rounded 

 wings of Melospiza, differing much, in this respect, from the species 

 of Passerella. In color, however, P. obscura agrees nearer with 

 Melospiza rufina of Baird than with any other bird with which I am 

 acquainted, but the upper parts, and especially the rump and tail, 

 are much more rufous. The biU, feet and wings are entirely 

 different. 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H.— VOL. IX. 10 DECEMBER, 1862. 



