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PASSERIFORMES 
Field Marks. Distinctions as above. It is the reddest-backed of all the autumn 
Sparrows. 
Nesting. On the ground or in low bushes; nest of coarse grasses, rootlets, and moss, 
lined with finer grass. 
Distribution. Eastern North America. In Canada, west to the mountains and north 
to the limit of trees. Occasionally in southern British Columbia, breeding in the northern 
half of that province. 
This is the most famous songster of the Canadian north woods. At its 
best the song is a clear, flute-like, slowly measured whistle which has been 
very well put into words. “ Hard-times-can-a-da-can-ada ” or u Poor-Bill- 
Pea-bo-dy-Pea-bo-dy-Pea-bo-dy.” The White-throat is a brushwood bird; 
tangled thickets or brush piles in the vicinity of open ground are its 
favourite haunts. Throughout most of the cultivated sections of Canada 
the bird is a migrant only, and its best song is rarely heard. In the 
autumn when the young birds fly south the notes are heard in a softened, 
shortened version. 
Economic Status. The White-throat is a valuable bird. It is import- 
ant as a destroyer of weed seeds, especially of ragweed, and consumes a 
considerable number of insects and a little wild fruit. As the species comes 
down in great numbers to the thickly cultivated sections in early autumn, 
its effect on the succeeding season’s weed crop must be pronounced. 
585. Fox Sparrow, le pinson fauve. Passerella iliaca. L, 7-26. A rather large, 
reddish sparrow, exhibiting, according to geographical range, three distinct types of color- 
ation. West to the Rocky Mountains (the iliaca type): above, bright reddish brown, 
solid on tail and rump, but broadly striped on dull slaty back, hindneck, and crown; below, 
white, heavily spotted and streaked with red like the back on sides of throat, across breast, 
and on flanks. The centre of throat is almost free from markings and the spots tend to 
aggregate on the breast in a centre spot. West of the mountains, except the coast, we have 
a rich brown and grey bird (the schistacea type), like the last except that the reds are 
darkened to chocolate brown and there is little striping on the grey, which also suffuses 
largely over face. On the coast (the unalaschcemis type), the brown still deeper and 
richer, nearly or quite supplanting the grey, and the stripes below much more extensive, 
broader, and more coalescent. 
Dislinclio7is. Large size for a sparrow. East of the mountains, large amount of 
foxy red, solid on the tail and rump, heavily streaking the breast and flanks. In the 
interior of British Columbia, face, head, shoulders, and back, mostly grey; chocolate- 
browm wings, tail, and stripes on breast and flanks. The west coast type, a solidly dark, 
maroon-brown bird, the colour only broken by more or less coalescent white flecks on 
foreneck and abdomen. 
Field Marks. A large sparrow with much foxy red; dull grey head and back, brown 
tail and breast-streaks; or solid dark brown with white flecks on throat and below. 
Nesting. On the ground, or in low trees or bushes. Nest of coarse grasses lined with 
finer grass, hair, moss, and feathers. 
Distribution. Northern and western North America, breeding far to the north of 
ordinary cultivation. 
SUBSPECIES. A remarkably variable species, breaking up into a number of extra- 
ordinarily distinct subspecies. Indeed, some doubt may well be expressed as to whether 
some of the differences are not fully specific. The Eastern Fox Sparrow (le Pinson fauve 
de l’Est) Passerella iliaca iliaca extends west to the mountains and northwest throughout 
the interior of Alaska. It is a distinctly foxy red bird, as suggested by the vernacular 
name of the species. This form stands apart from all the rest in coloration, and shows, at 
least within our borders, no tendency to intergrade with the next following subspecies 
that occupies the interior of central and southern British Columbia and the foothills of 
Alberta. The Slate-coloured Fox Sparrow (le Pinson fauve ardois6) Passerella iliaca 
schistacea has grey predominating on face and back, and the reds darkened to brown. 
This bird extends south to Nevada, though some Canadian representatives are sometimes 
differentiated from it under the name of Alberta Fox Sparrow (le Pinson fauve de 1'Alberta) 
Passerella iliaca altivagans. On the British Columbia and Alaskan coast, we get a series 
of subspecies of the unalaschcensis type, solidly maroon and brown birds with little white 
