162 PASSEEELLA TOWNSENDII VAR. SCHISTACEA. 



shrubbery. You will find such company, again, in the ravines over- 

 grown with smilax and brambles that lead down to the brook; and as 

 you pass along neglected fences, fringed with tall, rank weeds, you may 

 surprise the birds out for a morning's ramble, and make them hurry 

 back in alarm to the shelter of heavier undergrowth. 



I have never known a single Fox Sparrow to nest in the United States, 

 nor even loiter within our limits through the summer; though Audubon 

 states, upon perhaps insufficient grounds, that it remains in abundance 

 during the season around Boston. Nor did I find a nest in Labrador, 

 where it is said to breed, as well as in various British provinces north of 

 us. " The nest," says Audubon, " which is large for the size of the bird, 

 is usually placed on the ground, among moss or tall grass, near the 

 stem of a creeping fir, the branches of which completely conceal it from 

 view. Its exterior is loosely formed of dry grass and moss, with a care- 

 fully-disposed under-layer of finer grasses, circularly arranged; and the 

 lining consists of very delicate fibrous roots, together with some feathers 

 from different species of water-fowl." The eggs, he adds, are laid from 

 the middle of June to the 5th of July. The nest is not always, how- 

 ever, placed on the ground, but sometimes in a bush or low tree, eight 

 or ten feet high. 



The eggs show the same style as those of ZonotricMa and Melospiza 

 in heavy coloring, wholly indeterminate in size and shape of the mark- 

 ings, upon a pale greenish-gray ground; and in some instances the 

 whole egg assumes a nearly uniform dark chocolate hue, much like that 

 of Plectroplianes lapponiciis. The reddish-brown blotching is usually, 

 however, much as in a Song Sparrow's or White-throated Sparrow's. 

 The size oi the egg is about 0.95 by 0.68. 



PASSERBLLA TOWNSEI^DII var. SCHISTACEA, (Bd.) Cones. 

 Slate-colored Sparrow. 



a. townsendii. 



{^.) Fringilla unalaakenms, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 675 (Oonalashlia Bunting, Lath., Syn. 



ii, 202 ; Penn., 52). 

 Tasserella unalaslcenm, Finsjh., Abh. Nat. iii, 1872, 53 (Alaska). 

 FringUUi townsendii, AuD., Orn. Biog. v, 1839, 236, pi. 424, f. 7 ; Syn. 1839, 119 ; B. Am. 



iii, 1841, 43, pi. 187. 

 FringlUa (Passerella) townsendii, Nutt., Man. i, 1840, 533. 

 Passerella toicnsendii, Bp., Consp. i, 18."0, 477.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 489. — Coop. & SccK., 



N. H. Wash. Ter. 1860, 204.— D.sll & Baxx., Tr. Cbio. Acad, i, 1869, 285.— 



CouES, Key, 1872, 352.— B. B. & E., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 53, pi. 28, f. 8. 

 Passerella iliaca var. townsendii, CouKS, Key, 1872, 147. 

 FringiUa meruloides, ViG., Zool. Beech. Voy. 1639, 19 (Monterey). 

 (?) Eniberiza {ZonotricMa) rufina, Kittl., Denk. 1858, 200 (Sitka). 



Hob. — Pacific Coast, North America. Alaska to Southern California. 



b. schistaeea. 



Passerella scMstacea, Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 490, pi. 69, fig. 3 (Platte Eiver and Fort Tejon).— 



Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 7. 

 Passerella iliaca var. schistaeea, Axlen, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 168 (Ogden, Utah). — 



CouES, Key, 1872, 147. 

 Passerella toionsendii var. schistaeea, CouBS, Key, 1872, 352. — B. B. & E., N. A. B. ii, 



1874, .56, pi. 28, f. 9. 

 Passerella megarhyncha, Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 925, pi. 69, fig. 4 (larger billed form from 



California).— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 222. 

 ^ Passerella toionsendii var. megarhyncha, B. B. & E., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 57, pi. 28, f. 10. 

 Passerella schistaeea var. megarhyncha, Eidgw., " Eep. Geol. Exp. 40th parallel" (in press). 



Hob. — Central region, Kansas to California. 



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