342 BIEDS — FRINGILLID^. 



boxes scarcely any art is shown in construction, or taste in the selection 

 of material, but nests in trees have a foundation of twigs and a lining 

 of grass, pieces of string and bits of soft material of various sorts. The 

 eggs are from four to seven in number, bluishash, spotted and streaked 

 with various shades of brown. They measure about .90 by .62. Several 

 broods are raised in a season. 



Genus PASSERELL'A. Swainson. 



Body stout. Bill aonotched, the two jaws of equal depth ; roof of upper mandible 

 vaulted. Wings long, pointed, about equal to the even tail, and reaching to its middle. 

 Inner secondaries not lengthened. Tarsus about equal to the middle toe. Lateral toes 

 lengthened, the tips of their claws reaching far beyond base of middle claw. 



Passeeella iliaca (Merrem.) Sw. 



Fox; Sparrow. 



Fringilla iliaca, Kirtland, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 164. — Bead, Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. 

 Soi., vi, 1853, 395. 



Passerella iliaca, Baibd, P. E. R. Kep., ix, 1858, 489.— Whbaton, Ohio Agric. Eep. for 

 1860, 366 ; Keprint, 1861, 8 ; Food of Birds, etc , Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 566 ; Re- 

 print, 1875, 6.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Cin.,' 1877, 9; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soo. 

 Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 176 ; Reprint, 10. 



Fringilla iliaca, Mbreem, Beit. Gesch., ii, 1780-7, 49. 

 Passerella iliaca, Swainson, Class B, ii, 1837, 228. 



General color ferrugineons or rusty red, purest and brightest on the rump, tail, and 

 wings, on the other upper parts appearing as streaks laid on an ashy ground ; below, 

 white, variously but thickly marked except on the belly and crissum with rusty red, the 

 markings anteriorly in the form of diffuse ooniJuent blotches, on the breast and sides 

 consisting chiefly of sharp saggitate spots and pointed streaks ; tips of middle and greater 

 coverts forming two whitish wing-bars; upper mandible dark, lower mostly yellow; 

 feet pale. Leugth, €|-7J; wing and tail each 3 or more. 



Habitat, Eastern Province of North America, north to mouth of Yukon ; west to edge 

 of great plains. Colorado. 



Common spring and fall migrant in March and April, October and No- 

 vember. Frequents woodland and borders of streams. Rarely in gardens 

 of cities. 



This is one of the largest and finest of the Sparrows. Its long wings 

 give it a flight which is more thrush-like than any other Sparrow, and 

 it has the thrush-like habit of concealing itself behind the trunks and 

 larger branches of trees when alarmed. Its only note while with us is 

 a low but rather sharp tschip, but in the Eastern States and at his sum- 

 mer home his song is described as being exquisitely sweet. 



The Fox Sparrow is not known to breed within the limits of the United 

 States, but has been found nesting in Labrador and British America. 



