156 ZONOTRICHIA LEUCOPHEYS VAR. INTKEMEDIA. 



leaves in the thickets. It sings constantly during June and Julj-, and 

 occasionally in August, mounting to the top of some high bush, the 

 dead limb of a pine, or any convenient perch well elevated above the 

 surrounding shrubbery, and chanting its ditty at short intervals for 

 half an hour or more at a time — a lively, agreeable song, fine and clear, 

 and frequently heard from a score or more of birds at once, with a most 

 pleasing effect. While his mate is setting, the male sings almost con- 

 stantly throughout the day, and sometimes eveu late into the evening, 

 long after dark — I have heard it at midnight, and eveu as late as one or 

 two o'clock. It is very tame; a pair had their nest within a few feet of 

 our camp at Chicago Lake, and all the bustle and noise did not drive the 

 female from her nest, while her mate would pick up crumbs which we 

 threw to hiui, almost at our feet. It commences building in July, and 

 the young are hatched about the 20th ; the nest is placed on the ground 

 in a clump of bushes, composed of coarse grass and weeds, and lined 

 with flue grass. The eggs are usually four, of a pale bluish-green, very 

 thickly speckled and dotted with reddish-brown, the latter color almost 

 wholly obscuring the former at the larger end. In September it begins 

 to descend ; by October is abundant at Idaho, and by November has 

 disappeared. It is by no means as numerous in the lower valleys dur- 

 ing fall as in spring, passing through much more quickly, a peculiarity 

 shared by many species whose migrations are similar, as Myiodioctes 

 pusiUus, JDendrcEca auduboni, and others." 



ZOjSTOTRICHIA LEUCOPHEYS, var. INTERMEDIA, Eidgw. 



Ridgway's Sparrow. 



Zonotrkhia gambeli, Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 460 (in part. lucludes the original Fringilla 

 gambeli of Nutt., Man. i, 2d ed. 1840, 556 ; Gamb., Pr. Pbila. Acad. 1843, 262, or 

 Zonotrichia gambeli, Gamb., Jouiu. Phila. Acad, i, 1847, 50, which is the Pacitic 

 coa.st form, appreciably different). — Ha YD., Eep. 1862, 166. — CouES, Pr. Phila. 

 Acad. 1866, .84 (Arizona).— Dali. & Baxx., Tr. Chic. Acad, i, 1869, 284 (Alaska).— 

 Stev., U. S. Geo). Surv. Ter. 1870, 464 (Wyoming).— Mere., ibid. 1872, 681.— 

 Hold., Pr. Bost. Soc. xv, 1872, 199 (Black Hills).— Tkippe, ibid. 237 (Iowa). 



Zonotrichia leucophrys var. gambeli, Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 157, 177. — CoUES, 

 Key, 1872, 145 (in part ; includes the true gambeli). 



Zonotrichia leucophrys var. intermedia, Hidgw., Mss. — Coues, Check-list, App. No. — . 



Sab. — ^Eocky ilountain region, Ala.9ka to Mexico. Middle Dakota (Coues). East- 

 ward, rarely, to Iowa (Trippe). 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. — 4793, Dnrion's Hill ; 4795, Vermilion River. 



Later £rpe(Zittons.— 60646-55, 60989-95, 60993,61019, various Wyoming localities; 

 62299, Idaho. 



Mr. Eidgway has lately shown that the western style of Teucophrt/s, so similar to the 

 typical form as to be only distinguished by the difterent loral pattern, and which is 

 nsually called "gambeli," is not the gainbeli of Nuttall. The latter is confined to the 

 Pacific coast, and is a very cuiious form, having almost exactly the plumage and gen- 

 eral appearance (excepting the head-markings) of Z. coronala. Examining these 

 forms, we agree with him in making a varietal distinction. There is nothing in the 

 Pacific coast race (true gambeli) of the peculiar purplish-ashy tinge of plumage that 

 marks leucophrys and var. intermedia, and the bend of the wing is decidedly yellowish. 



Among the numerons Warren examples of leucophrys, are two referable to var. inter- 

 media, as are all of the large series taken by Stevenson and Merriam, as above quoted. 

 They are found associated in many Rocky Mountain localities, and also further east, 

 ^yith true leucophrys. Mr. Allen only found leucophrys in Kansas and Colorado, meet- 

 ing with var. " gambeli " {intermedia) in Utah. The latter I found abundant in Arizona, 

 at various seasons, though most plentifully during the migrations ; and I believe it is 

 resident in the Territory, the varied conditions of surface of which oifer suitable 

 retreats at the diiferent seasons. lu Dakota I encountered it in numbers as far east as 

 102° of longitude, dnringithe fall migration ; no leucophrys proper was observed. Mr. 

 Trippe has noted it fforif lOwa, the easternmost locality on record. 



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