94 University of California Publications in Zoology. ["Vol. 7 



bird can hardly be considered as a component part of the fauna 

 of the region, as has been supposed. I could hardly have over- 

 looked the species entirely if it had been present, for I was on 

 the lookout for it constantly, but with the exception of the 

 single example of P. i. insularis noted above, no fox sparrow 

 was observed at any island locality visited; nor at any mainland 

 point until we reached Port Snettisham. This is the more 

 remarkable in that while the species is comiflon on the more 

 northern islands of the Alexander Archipelago (Admiralty, 

 Chichagof, and Baranof), it is also known to occur abundantly 

 on the Queen Charlotte Islands to the southward (Osgood, 1901, 

 p. 48). 



At Port Snettisham, August 24 to September 2, fox sparrows 

 were abundant. The hillsides at this point were covered in 

 places with dense masses of low underbrush, these thickets being 

 composed almost entirely of a single species of plant {Clado- 

 thamnus pyrolaeflorus) . This provided the fox sparrows with 

 an abundance of shelter and here most of them were found, 

 though a few were also observed in willow thickets and in the 

 alders along the beach. These brush-covered slopes bore a strong 

 general resemblance to the chinquapin-covered hillsides of the 

 higher mountains of southern California — the favorite haunt of 

 Passerella i. stephensi — a similarity further borne out by the 

 presence of these sparrows. 



On the Taku River, during September, fox sparrows were 

 irregularly abundant and evidently migrating, the last being 

 noted on September 19. 



Seventeen specimens were collected. One (no. 9664, ,^ juv. 

 Port Snettisham, August 29) is in the juvenal plumage purely; 

 three others from Port Snettisham (nos. 9657, 9658, 9661) are 

 molting from the juvenal to the first winter plumage; the 

 remainder of the series, nine from Port Snettisham (nos. 9656, 

 9659, 9660, 9662, 9663, 9665-9668) and four from the Taku 

 River (nos. 9669-9672), are all in first winter plumage. No 

 adults were secured. They are extremely dark colored, as com- 

 pared with spring and summer specimens of townsendi, but this 

 is probably due to the fresh unworn state of the plumage. 



