Slate-coloured Fox-Sparrow 391 
Description.—Male—General colour above dark grey, becoming russet- 
brown on the wings and tail; a greyish-white supraloral spot and a 
few white specks round the eye ; below white, the throat, chest and 
flanks with fairly large spots of sepia-brown ; iris brown, upper man- 
dible horn-brown, lower bluish at tip, whitish at base, legs fleshy 
Length 6-90; wing 3-15; tail 2-90; culmen -42; tarsus -93. 
The sexes are alike and nearly the same size; the young are like 
the adults, but the upper-parts are tinged with brown. 
Distribution.—Breeding from the interior of British Columbia, south 
to south-east California and east to western Colorado; south in 
winter to New Mexico and Arizona. Casual to western Kansas. 
In Colorado the Slate-coloured Sparrow is of rare occurrence. It 
has never been obtained east of the mountains, nor is there a Colorado 
example in the Aiken collection. In fact the only recorded occurrences 
are: Florissant about 8,000 feet, June, 1889, J. L. Goodale; Grand 
River, near Glenwood, June, 1897, D. Bruce; and Blue River, near 
junction with Grand River, July, 1877, Carter—all mentioned by 
Cooke ; while it has recently been obtained by H. G. Smith, July 3rd, 
1908, at Sulphur Springs, and was seen at Fort Lewis by Gilman. 
As it is common in parts of Utah, it will probably be found to be 
@ summer resident on the western slopes of Colorado. 
Habits.—Bendire (‘‘ Auk,” VI., p. 113) gives a good 
account of the habits of this Sparrow as observed by him 
at Camp Harney, Grant co., Oregon, where he found it a 
very common summer resident. He states it was there 
a tame and familiar bird, keeping about the gardens 
and yards of the post and often consorting with the 
fowls. It was terrestrial in habits, spending most of the 
day scratching amongst manure heaps or fallen leaves in 
search of worms, larve and seeds. Nesting takes place 
at the end of May or beginning of June. The nest is 
a bulky structure, the outer coats of which consist of 
coarse grass, bark strips and fibre woven together in 
a damp or wet condition, and forming a compact, solid 
mass when dry. The lining is of fine grass or sometimes 
horsehair. It is usually placed in a willow or other 
bush, about three feet above the ground. The eggs, 
three or four in number, are pale greenish, fairly evenly 
