288 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



the middle toe. Bro\\ii above, either uniformly so or faintly 

 streaked ; triangular spots below. 



"This section embraces a single North American genns, chiefly 

 characterized by the remarkable elongation of the lateral claws, ag 

 well as by the pecuhar shape and large size of all the claws; the 

 lateral, especially, are so much lengthened as to extend nearly as 

 far as the middle. The only approach to this, as far as I recol- 

 lect, among United States Conirostres, is in Pipilo megalonyx, and 

 Xanthocephalus icterocephalus. {Hist. N. Am. B.) 



Genus PASSERELLA Swainson. 



PassereVa Swainson, Class. Birds, ii. 1837, 288. Type, Fringilla iUaca Merrem. 



"Gen. Chae. Body stout. Bill conical, not notched, the outlines straight; the two 

 jaws of equal depth : root of upper mandible deeply excavated, and vaulted ; not knobbed. 

 Tarsus scarcely longer than the middle toe ; outer toe little longer than (he inner its claw 

 reaching to the middle of the central one. Hind toe about equal to the inner lateral; the 

 claws all long, and moderately curved only; the posterior rather longer than the middle, 

 ■ind equal to its toe. Wings long, pointed, reaching to the middle of the tail; the tertials 

 scarcely longer than secondaries; second and third quills longest; first equal to the fifth. 

 Tail very nearly even, scarcely longer than the wing. Inner claw contained scarcely one 

 and a hall times in its toe proper. 



"Color. Rufous or slaty; obsoletely streaked or uniform above; thickly spotted with 

 triangular blotches beneath." {Mist. N. Am. B.) 



A single species of this genus belongs to North America. It is 

 represented in the West by P. schistacea, Baird, in the Kocky 

 Mountains and west to the Sierra Nevada; by P. megarhyncha, 

 Baird, in the southern portion of the Pacific coast ranges, and by 

 P. unalaschcensis (Gmel.) along the more northern portion of the 

 Pacific Coast. All these fonns intergrade either with one another or 

 with P. iliaca, but whether these intergradations are due to hybridism 

 or bear the more important significance which has been assigned 

 to them, future knowledge alone can decide. 



Passerella iliaca (Merrem). 



FOX SPAESOW. 



Popular synonyms. Fox-colored Sparrow; Bufous Sparrow. 

 Fringilla iliaca Meekem, Beit. Gesch. Vog. ii, 1786-87, 49, pi. IC— Nutt. Man. 1. 1832. £14.— 

 AUD. Om. Biog. u, 1834, 68; v. 1839, 612, pi. 108; Synop. 1839,119; B. Am. iii,1841, 139, 

 pi. 185, 



