842 BIRDS—FRINGILLIDA. 
boxes scarcely any art is shown in construction, or taste in the selection 
_of material, but nests in trees have a foundation of twigs and a lining 
of grass, pieces of string and bits of soft material of various sorts. The 
eggs are from four to seven in number, bluish-ash, spotted and streaked 
with various shades of brown. They measure about .90 by .62. Several 
broods are raised in a season. 
GENUS PASSERELLA. Swainson. 
Body stout. Bill unnotched, the two jaws of equal depth; reof of upper mandible 
vaulted. Wings long, pointed, about equal to the even tail, and reaching to its middle. 
Inner secondaries not lengthened. Tarsus about equal to the middle toe. Lateral toes 
lengthened, the tips of their claws reaching far beyond base of middle claw. 
PASSERELLA ILIACA (Merrem.) Sw. 
E'ox Sparrow. 
Fringilla iliaca, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 164.—Reap, Proce. Phila. Acad. Nat. 
Sci., vi, 1853, 395. 
Passerella iliaca, BAIRD, P. R. R. Rep., ix, 1853, 489.—WuHeEatTon, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 
1860, 366; Reprint, 1861, 8; Food of Birds, ete, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 566; Re- 
print, 1875, 6.—LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 9; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. 
Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 176; Reprint, 10. 
Fringilla iliaca, MERREM, Beit. Gesch., ii, 1786-7, 49, 
Passerella iliaca, SWAINSON, Class B, ii, 1837, 228. 
Genera! color ferrugineous or rusty red, purest and brightest on the rump, tail, and 
wings, on the other upper parts appearing as streaks laid on an ashy ground; below, 
white, variously but thickly marked except on the belly and crissum with rusty red, the 
markings anteriorly in the form of diffuse confluent blotches, on the breast and sides 
consisting chiefly of sharp saggitate spots and pointed streaks; tips of middle and greater 
coverts forming two whitish wing-bars; upper mandible dark, lower mostly yellow; 
feet pale. Length, 63-74; wing and tail each 3 or more. 
Habitat, Eastern Province of North America, north to mouth of Yukon; west to edge 
of great plains. Colorado. 
Common spring and fall migrant in March and April, October and No- 
vember. Frequents woodland and borders of streams. Rarely in gardens 
of cities. 
This is one of the largest and finest of the Sparrows. Its long wings 
give it a flight which is more thrush-like than any other Sparrow, and 
it has the thrush-like habit of concealing itself behind the trunks and 
larger branches of trees when alarmed. Its only note while with us is 
a low but rather sharp tschip, but in the Hastern States and at his sum- 
mer home his song is described as being exquisitely sweet. 
The Fox Sparrow is not known to breed within the limits of the United 
States, but has been found nesting in Labrador and British America. 
