Western Vesper-Sparrow 355 
A. Larger; wing over 3; lateral tail-feathers white; no median 
crown-stripe. P. g. confinis, p. 355. 
B. Smaller; wing under 3; lateral tail-feathers not conspicuously 
white. 
a. Edge of the wing white. 
a? Median crown-stripe anteriorly buffy, posteriorly white. 
P, lecontei, p. 361. 
b? Median crown-stripe if defined, buffy throughout. 
a? Superciliary stripes bright yellow, contrasting with the 
dusky buffy ear-coverts. P. s. alaudinus, p. 357. 
b? Superciliary region buffy, like the ear-coverts. 
C. bairdi, p. 358. 
b. Edge of the wing yellow; breast buffy without stripes (in 
adult). A. s. bimaculatus, p. 359, 
Western Vesper-Sparrow. Poccetes gramineus confinis. 
A.0O.U. Checklist no 540a—Colorado Records—Allen 72, pp. 149, 156, 
162; Aiken 72, p. 199; Ridgway 73, p. 182; Trippe 74, p. 129; 
Henshaw 75, p. 256; Scott 79, p. 93; Drew 81, p. 90; 85, p. 16; 
Tresz 81, p. 42; Allen & Brewster 83, p. 189; Beckham 85, p. 141; 
Morrison 88, p. 74; 89, p. 36; Lowe 92, p. 101; Cooke 97, pp. 18, 
101, 214; Dille 03, p. 74; Henderson 03, p. 108; 09, p. 236; Warren 
06, p. 22; 08, p. 23; 09 p. 16; Gilman 07, p. 156; Markman 07, 
p. 157; Rockwell 08, p. 171. 
Description.—Male—General colour above pale greyish-brown, con- 
spicuously striped with dusky black; wings dusky, edged with pale 
brown, lesser wing-coverts cinnamon or rufous-brown, forming a 
shoulder-patch ; tail like the wings, but the outer pair of feathers largely 
white, with a narrow basal strip of dusky along the inner webs ; below 
white narrowly streaked with dusky on the breast and flanks ; traces 
of a white nuchal collar, especially behind the ear-coverts ; iris brown, 
bill horny, dusky toward the culmen and tip, legs pale brown. Length 
6-0; wing 3-40; tail 2-60; culmen -45; tarsus -73. 
The sexes are alike; in the autumn after the moult they are 
rather more richly coloured with a rufous-brown tinge, but the change 
is not marked. Young birds closely resemble the adults, but the mark- 
ings are not so well defined and the rufous or greyish edgings to the 
scapulars and secondaries are broader and more conspicuous. 
Distribution Western North America except the Pacific coast; 
breeding from British Columbia and Manitoba southwards to the 
highlands of Mexico and Arizona; south in winter to Texas, southern 
Mexico and southern California. 
The Western Vesper-Sparrow is a very common summer bird in 
Colorado, and is found throughout the State from the plains up to 
Z2 
