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142 FEINGILLIDiE, FINCHES, ETC. GEN. 73. 



Phila. 1866, p. 50. Specimens intermediate between oregonus and hyemalis have 

 been instanced (Eidgway, Proc. Pliila. Acad. 1869, 126), and all these forms of the 

 genus, in fact, seem to be nascent species, still unstable in character ; but the 

 modification of the Junco stocli has passed the merely varietal stage. 



73. Genus SPIZELLA Bonaparte. 



*.«* Small species, 5-6 inches long, with the long, broad-feathered, forked tail 

 about equalling the rather pointed wings, witli no j'ellowish anywhere, and no 

 streaks on tlie under parts tolien adult. 



* Species with the crown of the adult chestnut. 



Tree Sparroiv. Bill black above, yellow below; legs brown, toes black; 

 no black on forehead; crown chestnut (in winter specimens the feathers 

 usually skirted with gray), bordered by a grayish-white superciliary and 

 loral line, and some vague chestnut marks on sides of head ; below impurely 

 whitish, tinged with ashy anteriorly, washed with pale brownish posteriorly, 

 the middle of the breast with an obscure dusky blotch ; middle of Ijack 

 boldly streaked with black, bay and flaxen ; middle and lesser wing coverts 

 black, edged with bay and tipped with white, forming two conspicuous 

 cross-bars ; inner secondaries similarly variegated, other quills and tail 

 feathers dusky, with pale edges. A handsome sparrow, the largest of the 

 genus, at least (3 inches long; the wing and tail almost 3; al)undant in the 

 United States in winter, flocking in shrubbery ; breeds in mountainous and 

 boreal regions. Wils., ii, 12, pi. 12, f. 3; Nutt., i, 2d ed. 572; Aud., 



^ iii, 83, pi. 166; Bd.,472; Coop., 206 monticola. 



'^ Ghijpping Sparroiv. Chiphird or Oldppy. Ilairhird. Adult : bill black ; 

 feet pale ; crown chestnut, extreme forehead black, a grayish-white super- 

 ciliary line, below this a blackish stripe through 

 QyQ and over auriculars. Below, a variable shade 

 of pale ash, nearly uniform and entirely unmarked ; 

 back streaked with black, dull bay and grayish- 

 brown, inner secondaries and wing coverts similarly 

 variegated, the tijDS of the greater and lesser 

 coverts forming whitish bars ; rump ashy, with 

 slight blackish streaks ; primaries and tail dusky 



FlO. 8R. Chipping WiJiiiTOW. .,, 1 T o 11 r CI • l i no 



With paler edges, omallcr ; 5-5 J ; wing about 2% ; 

 tail rather less. Sexes alike, but very young birds are quite diflerent, the 

 crown being streaked like the back, the breast and sides thickly streaked 

 with dusky, the bill pale brown and the head lacking definite black. In 

 this stage, which, however, is of brief duration, it resembles some other 

 species, but may be known by a certain ashiness the others lack, and from 

 the small sparrows that are streaked below when adult, by its generic char- 

 acters. North America, extremely abundant, and the most ftimiliar species 

 about houses, in gardens, and elsewhere, nesting in shrubbery; nest of fine 

 dried grass, lined with hair; eggs 4-5, bluish, speckled. Wils., ii, 127, 

 pi. 16, f. 5; NuTT., i, 497; Aud., iii, 80, pi. 165; Bd., 473. . socialis. 



