500 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
including bristles or hair. The eggs are three to five, white or bluish white, 
rather thinly spotted with brown, purple and black, and usually with dark 
irregular pen-scratches. They average .80 by .61 inches. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult (sexes alike): Top of head with a median stripe of white or grayish-white, bordered 
on either side with a broader dark stripe, which is black on the forehead, bright chestnut 
on the crown, and mixed with black on the nape; a narrow black line through the middle 
of the lores, with a long white stripe above it and over the eye, and a shorter white stripe 
below it and the eye; ear-coverts chestnut, with black spots before and behind; a broad 
white stripe from the base of lower mandible along side of head, separated from the white 
throat by a narrow black stripe; back brownish gray, the scapulars and interscapulars 
streaked with blackish, the hind neck, rump, and upper tail-coverts mostly unstreaked; 
under parts white or grayish-white, the chest with a patch of five or six small black spots; 
wings grayish-black, edged with white externally, and with two more or less conspicuous 
whitish bars; tail rounded, all but the middle feathers black with broad white tips, the 
outer pair about half white, the amount decreasing regularly on the next four pairs, the 
middle pair brownish-gray without white tips; bill dusky above, bluish below; iris brown. 
Young birds are more or less streaked with blackish on the breast, and the head markings 
are much less distinct, the crown entirely grayish-brown streaked with blackish, and the 
ear-coverts plain grayish-brown. 
Length 5.75 to 6.75 inches; wing 3.20 to 3.80; tail 2.70 to 3; culmen about .45. 
227. Harris’s Sparrow. Zonotrichia querula (Nuit.). (553) 
Synonyms: Fringilla querula, Nutt., 1840.—Fringilla harisii, Aud., 1843.—Zonotrichia 
querula of most other authors. 
With the proportions and general appearance of the White-throat, but 
rather larger, the top of the head without any stripes, and mainly clear 
black in the adult, as is also the chin, throat and middle of the breast. 
In immature birds these black feathers are ashy on buff tipped, more or 
less hiding the black. 
Distribution.—Middle United States from Illinois, Missouri and Iowa 
west to middle Kansas and the Dakotas, and from Texas north to Manitoba. 
This appears to be a rather rare straggler from the west, yet from its 
similarity to the White-throat and White-crown, with which it associates, 
it may occur more frequently than we suppose. Thus far but three specimens 
have been recorded from Michigan, as follows: (1) An immature female 
shot at Palmer, Marquette county, September 30, 1894, by O. B. Warren; 
the skin now in the Agricultural College collection. (2) A male shot at 
Battle Creek, Calhoun county, October 12, 1894, by Edward Arnold; this 
bird was with a flock of White-throated Sparrows. (3) A female collected 
at Sault Ste. Marie, Chippewa county, February 22, 1900, by Richard 
Ryan, and identified by the Division of Biological Survey, U. 8. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. This specimen is now in the museum of the Nault 
Ste. Marie high school (Melville). 
Mr. Warren states that he first noticed this species at Palmer in the fall 
of 1893 among flocks of the White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows 
and found it tolerably common in the fall migrations of 1894 and 1895, 
but was unable to find it in the spring. 
It appears to be similar in its habits to the other members of the genus, 
but its nesting habits and eggs are imperfectly known. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult: Whole top of head black, without lighter median stripe; rest of upper parts 
brownish-gray or grayish-brown, the scapulars and middle of back broadly streaked 
