SPARROWS 
403 
Nesting. On the ground or in low bushes. Nest of grasses and fine vegetable fibres. 
Distribution. North America from tree limits southward. Throughout Canada as a 
breeder or migrant. 
SUBSPECIES. Three subspecies are recognized in Canada. The Eastern White- 
crown (le Pinson k couronne blanche de l’Est) Zonotrichia leucophrys leucophrys extends 
westward over the prairies to the Rocky Mountains. It is notable that, although this form 
in the east breeds only in high latitudes, it is the nesting form of the hills of southwestern 
Saskatchewan. Gambel's or the Intermediate Sparrow (le Pinson a couronne blanche de 
Gambol) Zonotrichia leucophrys garnbeli (by some regarded as a full distinct species) 
occupies the northern prairies, and the inferior of British Columbia, northward into Alaska. 
It is distinguished from leucophrys mainly by the lores being white instead of black 1 (Figure 
481, compare a with b). On the coast of British Columbia is Nuttall’s Sparrow (le Pinson 
a couronne blanche de Nuttall) Zonotrichia leucophrys nuitalli. This is like Gambel’s, 
but the grey of the back is slightly olivaceous, the stripes are less reddish and a darker 
and richer brown, and there is a trace of pale yellow on the edge of the first wing-joint. 
The Eastern White-crowned is the common migrant in the east and Gambel’s in British 
Columbia. Throughout the prairies and much of British Columbia both forms occur. 
One of the most beautiful of the sparrows. Though it lacks gaudy 
colours, its sharply contrasting black and white crown and grey throat 
and neck give it distinction. Its song, too, is sweet, but it is usually heard 
at its best only on its breeding grounds. 
Ordinarily it is a great weed-seed destroyer, but when it occurs in 
immense flocks, as in some parts of British Columbia, some complaints 
have been made that it eats off the shoots of sprouting garden seeds or even 
scratches up the seeds themselves. This objection, however, is more or 
less local. 
557. Golden-crowned Sparrow, le pinson a couronne doree. Zonotrichia 
coronata. L, 7. Slightly larger than the White-crowned Sparrow; like it in coloration, 
but the white median crown-patch is replaced by bright lemon-yellow, and the general 
coloration is duller, more ochraceous; the clear grey of neck and breast is more brownish 
ash and it has not the black line back from the eye (Figure 482). 
The juvenile is similar to the juvenile White-crowned, but the crown- 
spot is not as clear reddish and is usually tinged with yellow in the 
centre. 
Distinctions. The yellow crown in adult and traces of it in 
juvenility, otherwise a slightly larger and duller-coloured bird than 
the White-crowned. 
Field Marks. Like a White-crowned Sparrow, with no distinct 
white superciliary line and with golden instead of white crown j,. 4g9 
streak. It may sometimes be impossible to separate juveniles from Golden crowned Sp ir- 
that species. r row; scale, *! ^ 
Nesting. On the ground; nest of fine grasses and rootlets. 
Distribution. Pacific Coast region of North America. In Canada, British Columbia 
and western mountain regions, northward into Alaska and the adjoining foothills in 
Alberta. Nesting in the mountains south to Jasper Park region and Cariboo District of 
British Columbia. A regally crowned Sparrow typical of the alpine meadows of the 
mountains. 
558. White- throated Sparrow. Canada bird. Canada white-throat, pioabody- 
bird. le pinson a gorge blanche. Zonotrichia albicoUis. L, 6-75. Plate LXXXV A. 
Adult: back striped in reddish and dark browns; white below. Face and foreneck light 
ash-grey with well-defined white throat. Crown, black with conspicuous white median 
stripe. Superciliary stripe bright yellow in front of eye, changing to white behind. Juvenile 
has back striped with rufous and brown ; dull ashy white below, duskier on breast but 
whiter on throat. Yellow spot in front of, and over, eye always perceptible. 
Distinctions. The yellow spot in front of, and over, eye, and distinctly lighter throat 
are the best distinctive characters. 
1 Some species of White-crowns occur with the white eyebrow streak and loral spot separated by a narrow 
black bar. These birds seem referable to leucophrys and are not necessarily to be regarded as intermediates or 
hybrids with garnbeli. 
