402 
PASSERIFORMES 
Field Marks. Dull reddish crown, lack of facial marks other than a touch of red on 
ends of ear coverts, and cinnamon-coloured bill. The song is its most easily recognized 
characteristic and when learned is the best means of identification. 
Nesting. On ground or in low bushes, in nest of rather coarse grasses, weed stalks, 
and rootlets, lined with fine grasses and hair. 
Distribution. Eastern America; in Canada including most of the better settled sec- 
tions of southern Ontario, but rather local in distribution and unaccountably absent from 
some localities well within its range. 
SUBSPECIES. The Field Sparrow is divided into an eastern and western subspecies; 
the former, the type form, is the only one that has so far been detected in Canada. 
The Field Sparrow is an inconspicuous bird and though often very 
common is so like a Chipping Sparrow with worn plumage that it may be 
mistaken for it. It is a bird of the open fields and fence rows and though 
not shy or unusually retiring, must be looked for and listened for to be 
found. 
Economic Status. Very much like the Chipping Sparrow in food 
habits, taking a few more useful insects though not enough to perceptibly 
affect its usefulness. 
Figure 480 
Harris's Sparrow; 
553. Harris’s Sparrow, le pinson a face noire. Zonotrichia querula. L, 7-50. 
A large sparrow. Above, striped in shades of brown and brownish ash with a black crown, 
throat, and upper breast; cheeks ashy grey, and underparts pure 
white. Adults of both sexes, spring and autumn, practically alike. 
Juveniles similar, but the black crown broken, the face ochraceous 
to base of bill; throat white, the black being confined to a con- 
spicuous breast-spot. 
Distinctions. A large sparrow; white below, with black cap, 
face, and throat, or with a large black spot across breast. 
Field Marks. A large, black and white sparrow, with black 
face and throat or large black spot across centre of breast. 
Nesting. On the ground under bushes; nest of grass. Nest 
rarely discovered. 
Distribution. Central North America; north to edges of barren scale, i. 
grounds. Nesting area in the sub-arctic regions. In Canada, 
migrating throughout all the prairie sections. Occurring rarely, but with increasing fre- 
quency, in winter, in southern British Columbia. 
A very handsome Sparrow, frequenting brushy places during migration. 
554. White-crowned Sparrow, le pinson A. couronne blanche. Zonotrichia 
leucophrgs. L, 6-88. Plate LXXXIV B. Adult: back striped in rich seal-brown and 
light grey; below, white. Face, neck, and breast 
light ash-grey. Crown, black with conspicuous white 
median stripe. The immature plumage has back 
striped with brown anti brownish cream and the clear 
grey of face, neck, and breast replaced with dull ashy; 
the crown is rusty brown with a lighter median centre. 
Distinctions. Only to be mistaken for the Golden- 
crowned and White- throated Sparrows. Brighter 
coloured than the first, with white instead of golden 
yellow median stripe, and without the white throat 
and yellow loral spot of the second. Juveniles are 
difficult to separate from the Golden-crowned, but 
the latter almost always have some suggestion of yellow on the crown and are duller and 
darker in general tone. 
Field Marks. Brilliant black and white crown and without white throat or yellow 
loral mark, separates adults from mature White-throats. In juvenility, when the loral 
spot cannot be seen, the latter has a distinctly red, rather than grey, cast on the back. 
Distinguished from the Golden-crowned by the white instead of yellow median line. 
Juveniles are probably difficult to distinguish in life from that species, but the crown shows 
distinctly reddish instead of yellowish or fiat olive. 
Figure 481 
Subspecies of White-crowned 
Sparrow. 
a, Eastern White-crowned; 
b, Gambel’s Sparrow. 
