122 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



between eye and mandible. Of the 2 additional birds from that 

 part of Alaska, 1 from Bettles agreed with the gray birds and 1 from 

 Ahlasuruk agreed with the lighter mark between eye and mandible. 

 The exceptional bird bears the pattern of the eastern white-crowned 

 sparrow, as Alexander Wetmore first pointed out to me. It was a male 

 taken on July 11, weighing 2T grams, with testes measuring 1.5 mm. 

 It could be interpreted as an accidental wanderer of the eastern race, 

 far from the usual range of its subspecies, or as an aberrant pattern of 

 plumage in gambelii that happens to resemble typical leucophrys. 

 The latter of these two choices is the one followed here, as it seems 

 more logical than the other. 



Passerella iliaca zaboria Oberholser 



5 males May21, Aug. 6 weight (4), 34.3- 



42.7, average 37.4 



g. 



2 females June, July 11 weight 30.2 g. 



2 young males July 11, 1960 weight 34, 34 g. 



These fox sparrows compare well with those kindly shown me by 

 Ira Gabrielson as representatives of this race from Alaska, 



The earliest records are of a specimen brought to me May 19, 1948, 

 which unfortunately could not be preserved, June 8, 1950 (an un- 

 doubtedly late observation). May 17, 1951, May 29, 1952, and May 28, 

 1954. Because of their shy withdrawal among the willow thickets 

 early fox sparrows are unlikely to be seen until the males reveal them- 

 selves by singing from the tops of bushes. 



The JSTunamiut name for fox sparrows, IkUhvik, means "tool bag." 

 This name is very appropriate, for it refers to the quick, rattling 

 sound which the fox sparrow makes in the Arctic, as in temperate 

 regions, while scratching in dry leaves. It resembles the rattling of 

 the ivory bone and flint instruments formerly carried in an Eskimo's 

 tool bag (the older men used to carry their tools in these bags as they 

 went to work together on their fish nets and other gear in the men's 

 social house of the village, where they would not be disturbed by 

 women and children, who in turn also had liberty for their occupa- 

 tions and society). Barbara Oakeson informs me that at Mountain 

 Village on the lower Yukon the Eskimos also base their name for fox 

 sparrows on their scratching, but they are there called Shachtayolik, 

 meaning "he scratches." As a small boy I first recognized fox spar- 

 rows when the odd rattling sound of their scratching among the 

 autumn dry leaves in a swampy thicket called them to my attention. 



Almost as early as they have been seen, the males were singing their 

 fine, sweet song. Among early specimens, the testes varied consider- 

 ably in size, so that I suspect that they, like Alaska longspurs, are not 

 all ready for reproduction when they first arrive. Nevertheless a 



