390 Birds of Colorado 
lake or stream, and the nest was constructed wholly of dry 
grass ; the eggs, four or five in number, are greenish- 
white heavily marked, especially at the larger end, with 
lavender and chestnut-brown. They average ‘80 x ‘58. 
Swamp-Sparrow. Melospiza georgiana. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 584—Colorado Records—Thorne 87, p. 264 
(in error apud Cooke, 97, p. 39); Cooke 97, p. 166; Cary 09, p. 182. 
Description.—Male—Forehead black, crown chestnut with a more 
or less indistinct median line of grey, sometimes plain, sometimes 
streaked with black; superciliary line, nape and sides of the neck 
ashy-grey ; rest of the upper surface brown, heavily marked with black 
on the middle of the back ; wings broadly edged with rufous ; the two 
middle tail-feathers with a median stripe of dusky; below greyish- 
white, the breast lightly, the flanks heavily washed with tawny-brown ; 
Length 5-00 ; wing 2-35 ; tail 2.25 ; culmen -40; tarsus -80. 
The sexes are alike ; young birds and perhaps some adults have the 
crown plain brown, streaked with black. 
Distribution.—E astern North America, breeding from Illinois and 
Pennsylvania north to Labrador, south in winter to the southern 
states. A very rare straggler to Colorado. It was seen by Aiken 
near Colorado Springs on one occasion only, on the 22nd August, 1897 ; 
it has been taken more recently by Merritt Cary, of the Biological 
Survey, at Medano Springs Ranche, north-east of Mosca in the San Luis 
Valley, October 23rd, 1907. 
Genus PASSERELLA. 
Medium-sized Sparrow-like birds—wing from 3 to 4; with rather 
stout, strong bills; wing moderately long and pointed, the ninth 
(outer) primary about equal to the fifth ; tail long, from about -80 of 
the wing to longer than the wing, nearly square ; feet and claws large, 
tarsus about twice as long as the culmen ; outer toe reaching the sub- 
terminal phalanx of the middle toe. Plumage reddish and slaty 
above, below white with conspicuous triangular spots of reddish or 
dusky horn. 
Only one species, including several geographical races, is included 
in this genus; it ranges all over North America as far south as 
California. 
Slate-coloured Fox-Sparrow. Passerella iliaca schistacea. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 585c—Colorado Records—Ridgway 73, 
p. 183; Cooke 97, pp. 107, 167, 216; 98, p. 13; Gilman 07, p. 157; 
Rockwell 08, p. 173. 
