382 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSEMES— OSCINES. 
7.50 inches long, the rounded wings and tail each 3.00 or more ; the under parts with very few 
streaks, or none, the middle of the back streaked, the rump plain, the M'ings with two white 
cross-bars, the head of the adults with black, and usually with white and yellow also, or both. 
Bill moderate, conical, culmen and gonys just appreciably curved, commissure very little angu- 
lated. Point of the wing formed usually by the 2d-4th quills, and 1st about equal to 5th j 
folding decidedly beyond the inner secondaries, and to near the middle of the tail. Tail-feathers 
of moderate width and consistency, rounded oval at the end ; tail as a whole rounded. Tarsus 
about equal to middle toe and claw ; lateral toes about equal to each other. The Crown 
Sparrows are peculiar to North America^ where they are represented by five beautiful and per- 
fectly distinct species. 
Analysis of Species (adults only). 
Crown black and white; no yellow on head; throat ash. 
Lores black. Dorsal streaks purplish-bay ; no yellow on wing leucoplirys 276 
Lores gray. Dorsal streaks puri)lish-bay , no yellow on wing intermedia 277 
Lores gray. Dorsal streaks sooty-black ; edge of wing yellowish gambeli 278 
Crown black and white; yellow spot before ej'e ; throat white ; edge of wing yellow albicollis 275 
Crown black, yellow and ash ; edge of wing yellow ; throat ashy coronata 279 
Crown, face, and throat black ; no yellow on head or wing querula 280 
275. Z. albicollis. (Lat. albicollis, white-throated; albus, white; collum, neck. Fig. 241.) 
White-throated Crown Sparrow. Peabody-bird. Adult $ : Crown black, divided by 
a median white stripe, bounded by a white 
superciliary line, and yellow spot from 
nostril to eye ; below this a black stripe 
through eye ; below this a maxillary 
black stripe bounding the definitely pure 
white throat, sharply contrasted with the 
dark ash of the breast and sides of the 
neck and head. Edge of icing yellow. 
Back continuously streaked with black, 
chestnut, and fulvous-white ; rump ashy, 
unmarked. Wings much edged with 
bay, the white tips of the median and 
greater coverts forming two conspicuous 
bars ; quills and tail-feathers dusky, with 
pale edges. Below, white, shaded with 
ashy-brown on sides, the ash deeper and 
purer on the breast ; bill dark ; feet pale. 
9 , and immature birds, and specimens 
as generally seen in the U. S. in fall and winter, with the black of the head replaced by brown, 
the white of the throat less conspicuously contrasted with the duller ash of surrounding parts, 
and frequently with obscure dusky streaks on the breast and sides ; but the species may always 
be known by the yellow over the eye and on the edge of the wing (these never being imper- 
ceptible), coupled with the large size and the generic characters. Length 6.50-6.90 ; extent 
9.20-9.90; wing 2.75-3.00; tail about the same. A fine sparrow, abundant throughout 
Eastern N. Am. to latitude 65° N. ; W. to Dakota; breeds from the New England and 
other Northern States northward : winters from tlie Middle States southward. Found in 
all situations, but especially in shrubbery, generally in fiocks, except when breeding ; a 
pleasing if not brilliant songster, with its limpid pea-peabody, peabody, peabody in cadence. 
Nest on the ground, rarely in bushes; eggs 4-6, about 0.90 X 0.66, with the endless diversity 
of tone and pattern of those of the song sparrow, from which they are only distinguished by 
their greater size. 
Fig. 241. — White-throated. Crown Sparrow, reduced. 
(Sheppard, del. Nichols sc.) 
