AMBIGUOUS SPARROW. 
485 
This bird is in fact a congener of the Cow-Troopial, 
an Icteria ; yet it differs essentially from the young of 
that species, not only in the colors of the plumage, but in 
that of the bill and legs, which are not black. The bill 
is also narrower at the sides. The size is likewise much 
smaller. May not this be the offspring of the white and 
more sparingly spotted egg, deposited, occasionally in the 
nests of the Cow Bird’s nurses? I saw one of these 
foundlings soon after hatching, this summer, in the nest 
of a Wilson’s Thrush ; it was then clothed in a pale al- 
most whitish-grey down, and already differed from the 
ordinary parasite ; but the nest was robbed soon after 
this occurrence, and I am yet unable to offer any thing 
certain upon the subject, excepting, that the eggs are 
easily, and certainly, recognizable from all others. 
The Long- Winged or Mouse-colored Sparrow is 6 J inches in length. 
Length of the closed wing from the summit of the shoulder to the 
point 3|, (or | of an inch longer than in the preceding species.) 
Tarsus 1 inch, (in the Bay-winged Sparrow J of an inch.) Bill 
yellowish-brown, rather long and robust, without notch. Legs and 
feet very stout, pale brown ; the claws short, thick, and rather 
blunt. Above, of an almost uniform brownish-grey, the tail only being 
a shade deeper ; most of the feathers below the neck and down to the 
rump are just sensibly terminated by a slight edge of dull brownish- 
white ; the coverts, tertials, and wing-feathers more broadly margin- 
ed with the same ; the 1st primary longest, the 2d and 3d but little 
shorter ; the 4th, 5th, and 6th rapidly decreasing ; the 1st longer than 
the 5th by § of an inch ! (in the preceding species the 1st and 5th are 
not very different in length.) Inner lining of the wing dusky. Tail 
plain dusky-grey and cuneiform. Beneath pale yellowish-white, 
the chin without spots, below to the belly thickly clouded with shad- 
ed ill-defined pale dusky spots. The rump almost plain dark grey. — - 
The long wings, stout legs, and ylain color, at once distinguish this 
from all other North American Sparrows. The specimen is, however, 
a young bird, and may undergo some alteration of plumage. 
41 * 
