Chapter C: S. Paine, of East Bethel, Vt., found a nest of this species about (25)

We are indebted to the careful observations of Mr. Ridgway for the principal portion of our knowledge of the manners and mode of life of this species, which he has recently ascertained to be an abundant summer resident in Southern Illinois. It is probably equally abundant throughout the State, and is found as far east as Ohio, where it becomes rare.

The Prairie Lark-Finch was found by that accurate observer very abundant at Sacramento, Cal., where it frequented alike the oak groves, the cottonwood and willow copses, and the weedy fields and meadows. At Sacramento it was eminently arboreal, quite in contrast with its habits as observed in Illinois. It was also met with in the interior, wherever the locality was suited to it. Near Salt Lake City it is one of the most numerous of the birds inhabiting the artemisia grounds, in the outskirts of the town, in company with _Poospiza bilineata_ and _Spizella breweri_. It is called by the Utah boys the Snake-Bird, from the supposed resemblance of its striped head to that of a snake. At Sacramento it is greatly prized as a cage-bird, and young birds readily sell there for four dollars a pair. He states that the delightful song of this bird has no parallel among the North American _Fringillidæ_, and claims that in this respect it is pre-eminently superior to that of all the other members of this family. As it perches upon the summit of a small tree, on the telegraph wire, or upon a fence, its notes may be heard throughout the day, in the morning before those of any others, and late in the evening, when all except for this irrepressible songster is silence.

The song of this species is described as composed of regularly divided parts, almost perfect in compass, in vigor and continuity unsurpassed, if not unequalled, by any other North American species. It begins with a series of chants, the style reminding one somewhat of the _Cyanospiza cyanea_, but each syllable loud, rich, and clear, and uttered with a peculiar emotional trill, the whole seemingly delivered in a hurried manner, in one continuous gush of sprightly silvery notes, each accompanied by a metallic _tremolo_. As if exhausted, the singer falters, and the notes become scarcely audible, then suddenly reviving, as if in great joy, the song is resumed in all its vivacity, until the bird at last really appears to be overcome by its efforts.

Dr. Coues met with this species in Arizona in the winter. He writes me as follows: “The most eastern point where I observed this species was at St. Louis, Mo. I saw a good many in the suburbs of that city in May, 1865. It is one of the most abundant Sparrows about Fort Whipple, particularly during the migrations; the majority pass northward in April and May, but many breed in the vicinity, and some pass the winter in sheltered situations. It is generally seen in companies, frequenting the skirts of woods, the underbrush along mountain rivulets, and similar situations, where the seeds of various plants are procurable; its general habits resemble those of the species of _Zonotrichia_.”

The nests were found by Mr. Ridgway in various situations; the larger number were upon the ground, but several were in trees varying in height from six to twenty feet from the ground. They were found from the latter part of May through June. A nest obtained in Southern Wisconsin by Mr. Thure Kumlien is very homogeneous in structure, consisting entirely of loosely intertwined stems of dry grasses, sedges, and carices. It was built on the ground, is nearly flat, and has only a very shallow cavity. Its entire height is less than two inches, and the depth of its depression not half an inch. The diameter of the nest is three and a half inches, and that of the cavity at the rim three inches.

The maximum number of their eggs is five. Their average measurement is .85 by .65 of an inch. The ground-color is usually a grayish-white, rarely a light brown, marbled and streaked with waving lines, and a few dots of black or a blackish-brown.

GENUS ZONOTRICHIA, SWAINSON.

_Zonotrichia_, SWAINSON, Fauna Bor.-Am. II, 1831. (Type, _Emberiza
leucophrys_.)

[Line drawing: _Zonotrichia leucophrys._
1506 ♂]

GEN. CHAR. Body rather stout. Bill conical, slightly notched, somewhat compressed, excavated inside; the lower mandible rather lower than the upper; gonys slightly convex; commissure nearly straight. Feet stout; tarsus rather longer than middle toe; the lateral toes very nearly equal. Hind toe longer than the lateral ones; their claws just reaching to base of middle one. Inner claw contained twice in its toe proper; claws all slender and considerably curved. Wings moderate, not reaching to the middle of the tail, but beyond the rump; secondaries and tertials equal and considerably less than longest primaries; second and third quills longest; first about equal to the fifth, much longer than tertials. Tail rather long, moderately rounded; the feathers not very broad.

Back streaked. Rump and under parts immaculate, except in young. Head black, or with white streaks, entirely different from the back.

This genus embraces some of the most beautiful of American Sparrows, all of the largest size in their subfamily.

All the species properly belonging to this genus are North American; several South American species, have, however, been assigned to it; but they are none of them strictly congeneric with those given below.

COMMON CHARACTERS. Feathers of interscapular region blackish centrally, passing into rufous-brown and edged with paler. Rump and upper tail-coverts uniform olivaceous-ashy brown. Two white bands on the wings; the tertials edged with rufous. Beneath without streaks. Head above marked with black, and generally with white. Cheeks plumbeous.

A. Black of the crown divided by a median light stripe.
Jugulum ashy.

_a._ Throat ashy, uniform with the breast.

1. Z. leucophrys. Median stripe of the crown white. A
black stripe from behind the eye, and a white superciliary
stripe.

α. A black stripe from the eye to forehead, across lore.
_Hab._ Eastern Province of North America, west throughout
Rocky Mountains; Cape St. Lucas in winter …
var. _leucophrys_.

β. No black streak in front of eye, the lores being
wholly ashy. _Hab._ Western Province North America, east
to Rocky Mountains … var. _gambeli_.

2. Z. coronata. Median stripe of crown yellow for
anterior and ash for posterior half. Black of crown coming
down to eye and ear coverts, leaving no light superciliary
stripe. _Hab._ Pacific Province of North America;
accidental east of Sierra Nevada.

_b._ Throat pure white, in sharp contrast with the dark ash
of cheeks and jugulum.

3. Z. albicollis. Median stripe of crown white. A light
superciliary stripe, yellow anterior to the eye, and white
behind it; a black streak along upper edge of ear-coverts.
_Hab._ Eastern Province of North America.

B. Black of the crown not divided, but continuous. Jugulum
white.

4. Z. querula. Lores, forepart of cheeks, with the chin
and throat, deep black; whole side of head behind the eye,
ashy. Lower parts pure white. _Hab._ Missouri Plains.

Zonotrichia leucophrys, SWAINSON.

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW.

_Emberiza leucophrys_, FORSTER, Philos. Trans. LXII, 1772, 382,
426.—GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 874.—WILSON, Am. Orn. IV, 1811,
49, pl. xxxi, f. 4. _Fringilla (Zonotrichia) leucophrys_, SW. F.
B. Am. II, 1831, 255. _Zonotrichia leucophrys_, BON. List,
1838.—IB. Consp. 1850, 478.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 458, pl.
lxix, f. 2.—COUES, P. A. N. S. 1861, 224.—_Maynard_, Birds E.
Mass. 1870, 118.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 196.—SAMUELS, 309.
_Fringilla leucophrys_, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 88; V, 515, pl.
cxiv.—IB. Syn. 1839, 121.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 157, pl. cxcii.
_? Spizella maxima_, BONAP. Comp. Rend. 1853 (either this or _Z.
gambeli_). _White-crowned Sparrow_, PENNANT.
Figured in BUFFON, Ois. IV, 192, pl. ccxxiii, f. 2. Winter.

SP. CHAR. Head above, upper half of loral region from the bill, and a narrow line through and behind the eye to the occiput, black; a longitudinal patch in the middle of the crown, and a short line from above the anterior corner of the eye, the two confluent on the occiput, white. Sides of the head, forepart of breast, and lower neck all round, pale ash, lightest beneath, and shading insensibly into the whitish of the belly and chin; sides of belly and under tail-coverts tinged with yellowish-brown. Interscapular region streaked broadly with dark chestnut-brownish. Edges of the tertiaries brownish-chestnut. Two white bands on the wing.

_Female_ similar, but smaller; immature birds in first winter, with the black and white stripes on the crown replaced by dark chestnut-brown and brownish-yellow. Length, 7.10 inches; wing, 3.25. _Young of the year_ thickly streaked with dusky on the breast. The lateral stripes of the crown dull brown, the median one streaked whitish.

HAB. United States from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, where they become associated with _Z. gambeli._ Cape St. Lucas; Greenland (REINHARDT, Ibis, III, 7). Breed in Wahsatch Mountains (RIDGWAY).

The white of the crown separates two black stripes on either side, rather narrower than itself. The black line behind the eye is continued anterior to it into the black at the base of the bill. The lower eyelid is white. There are some obscure cloudings of darker on the neck above. The rump is immaculate. No white on the tail, except very obscure tips. The white on the wings crosses the ends of the middle and greater coverts.

The character distinguishing the western representative (_Z. gambeli_) of _leucophrys_ is apparently very trifling, but is very constant.

HABITS. The White-crowned Sparrow is found from the Rocky Mountains eastward to the Atlantic, and in all the intervening territory, from the Southern States to the Arctic regions. In the high meadows of the Wahsatch Mountains, Mr. Ridgway found this bird very abundant, and one very characteristic, breeding there quite as numerously as any other species. In all that region Mr. Ridgway did not meet with a single individual of _Z. gambeli_, its western representative. At the encampment at Parley’s Park these birds soon became on very familiar terms with the party. They were very sociable, and paid frequent visits to the cook’s tent, and picked up, without the slightest signs of fear, the crumbs from the ground. Their sweet morning carol was, he states, delightful to the ear, and they were held in great favor by all. A nest of these birds was found on the ground, at Parley’s Park, June 26. It was built in a bunch of _Geranium_. Specimens of this species were obtained, in winter, at Cape St. Lucas, Lower California, by Mr. Xantus.

Although an eastern species, passing, in its migrations, through the Southern Atlantic States to Labrador in the spring and returning in the fall, it is a rare species in all New England. Mr. Boardman says that it is not common in Eastern Maine, and Mr. Verrill that it is rare in the western part of that State. In Eastern Massachusetts it is very rare. Mr. Maynard mentions obtaining a single specimen, May 27, and regards it as quite a rare migrant. I have never met with the bird near Boston, and do not believe that it is found there, except singly and rarely. In the western part of the State, though less rare, it is very far from being common. It is found there in the spring, from the 20th to the 30th of May, and in October from the 1st to the 15th. Mr. Allen met with it from May 7 to June 6, in 1861, when these birds were more common than usual. At this period, farther west, in Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and New York, these birds are very abundant. From April 10 to the latter portion of May, in 1852, they were abundant in the neighborhood of Washington, the Capitol grounds being full of them. They were familiar and fearless, and seemed to delight to search for food under the large Norway spruces, branching down to the ground. Their abundance that spring may have been exceptional, as Wilson appears to have met with but very few specimens.

Mr. Audubon found these Sparrows very abundant in Labrador, where they were apparently late in breeding. It was not until the 6th of July that he found one of their nests. This was placed among the moss at the foot of a low fir. It was made externally of dry hypnum mosses, matted in bunches like the coarse hair of some quadruped, and internally of fine dry grasses, arranged with great neatness, to the thickness of half an inch, with a full lining of the delicate yellow fibrous roots of the _Coptis trifolia_. The nest was five inches in its external diameter, and two in depth, the cavity two and a quarter wide and one and three quarters deep. The eggs, five in number, he describes as of a light sea-green color, mottled towards the larger end with brownish spots and blotches, a few spots of a lighter tint being dispersed over the whole. All the nests found were placed on the ground or among the moss, and all were alike in their construction. By the beginning of August the party met with young that were able to fly. By the middle of that month they had commenced their southern migrations.

Dr. Coues also found this Sparrow breeding in great numbers along the entire coast of Labrador. Found in all situations, it seemed to be particularly fond of deep, thickly wooded, and secluded ravines, surrounded by high precipitous cliffs, and, when in more open districts, confining itself to tangled patches of juniper and scrubby firs. He describes it as a very active and sprightly bird, almost continually in motion. It seldom alights without rapidly jerking and flirting its tail, and uttering its loud chirpings. While the female is incubating, the male usually mounts to the top of the cliff or a neighboring tree, and repeats his loud and not unpleasing, though somewhat monotonous, notes for the space of half an hour or more. He describes its song as very similar to that of the White-throated Sparrow, consisting of two long-drawn syllables with a rising intonation, then three more in a quick, hurried manner, with a falling cadence,—_pēé-dēé-dē-dē-dē_; the whole is delivered in a mellow whistle. If approached while thus engaged, the performer becomes instantly silent, and dives hastily into the nearest cover. The nest was always placed on the ground, and usually in little patches of low heath, abundant wherever the ground was dry. He found a nest on the 23d of July, containing young just hatched. The female flutters off in silence when her nest is disturbed, but the male bird vociferates his angry remonstrance, flirting his tail and jerking his body in an energetic manner.

The food of this bird, in Labrador, was found to consist of small coleopterous insects, grass-seeds, a variety of berries, as well as minute shell-fish, for which they searched the margins of ponds near the sea-shore. They were also seen to pursue insects on the wing. Mr. Audubon speaks of its song as consisting of six or seven notes, and describes it as loud, clear, and musical, although of a plaintive nature, diminishing in power to the last note. Its flight he describes as low, swift, and protracted.

Dr. Coues did not find this bird abundant in South Carolina during the winter, and conjectures that it does not go so far to the south. Its migrations do not appear to be well defined, and nowhere is it known to be abundant during this season. Lieutenant Couch met with it at Brownville, Texas, and Tamaulipes, Mexico, and at Charco Escondido, in March, at which time they were in flocks, indicating a more southern migration than is generally supposed.

It extends its northern migrations to the extreme northern and northeastern portions of the continent, and also to Greenland. On the Yukon and Anderson Rivers it is replaced by the _Z. gambeli_. It is not abundant in Greenland. Holböll obtained a single specimen only in August; and afterwards met with a flock of young birds. He infers that they breed in the interior, but are restricted to a very narrow strip of territory.

Eggs of this species, from Wyoming Territory, measure from .90 to .95 of an inch in length by .70 in breadth, and are of an oblong-oval shape. The ground-color is a light greenish-white, thickly marked with reddish-brown and lighter markings of an obscure purplish-brown. The intensity, depth of coloring, and size of the darker brown markings, vary. They are principally disposed about the larger end.

Zonotrichia leucophrys var. gambeli, GAMBEL.

WESTERN WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW.

_Fringilla gambeli_, NUTT. Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 556.—GAMBEL, Pr.
A. N. Sc. Phila. I, 1843, 262 (California.) _Zonotrichia gambeli_,
GAMBEL, J. A. N. Sc. 2d series, I, Dec. 1847, 50.—BAIRD, Birds N.
Am. 1858, 460, pl. lxix, f. 1.—LORD, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 1864, 119
(British Columbia).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, 201.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr.
Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 284 (Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 195.
_Zonotrichia leucophrys_, NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. & Or. Route; Rep.
P. R. R. VII, iv, 1857, 87.

SP. CHAR. Precisely similar to _Z. leucophrys_, but rather smaller; the lores are gray throughout, this color continuous with a white superciliary stripe along the side of the head. Length, 6.25; wing, 2.83; tail, 3.08.

HAB. Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast, north to Nulato and Fort Kenai, east through the valley of the Mackenzie River, and south to Jalisco and Mazatlan, Mexico.

As stated in the previous article, the only appreciable and constant difference between this race and _Z. leucophrys_ is found in the character of the black stripe on the side of the crown. In _leucophrys_ the black passes down over the upper half of the lores, and in front of the eye, to a line continuous with the cutting edge of the bill, and sends back a short branch to the eye, which cuts off the white superciliary stripe. In _gambeli_ the superciliary stripe passes continuously forward to the ashy lores, cutting off the black from the eye. The lower edge of the black anteriorly is much higher than in _leucophrys_, and nearly on a line with the nostrils.

We cannot give any positive character by which immature specimens of _leucophrys_ and _gambeli_ may be distinguished, unless that the short dark line from forehead to eye of the former is indicated by a greater amount of dusky at the base of the feathers of that region.

The young of this species, like that of _leucophrys_, is streaked with blackish on side of the throat, across the breast, and on the sides of body, instead of being entirely unmarked beneath, as in the adult.

One specimen, collected in the West Humboldt Mountains, connects this form with _leucophrys_, and may possibly be a hybrid. In this there is a black spot in front of the eye, but separated from the black of the crown by the usual light superciliary stripe of _gambeli_.

Some specimens from the coast region of California have the ash of head and breast duller, and with a brownish cast, and the spots on the back black instead of deep dark brown.

HABITS. The Western White-crowned Sparrow is found in great abundance, from Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific. Dr. Suckley found this bird very abundant at Fort Dalles and at Puget Sound, at both of which places it is a constant summer resident. It was always found in excellent condition. He states that it makes its nest in low bushes, among the stalks of lupins and other shrub-like weeds. Dr. Cooper also mentions that this bird is very abundant in all the prairie districts of Washington Territory, especially where there are low bushes. Unlike most of the Sparrows, it was also common on the coast prairies, where he found it breeding. They arrive at the Straits of Fuca at the end of March in large numbers, and leave for the South in October. He afterwards found them at Fort Mohave, in the Colorado Valley, quite common throughout the winter, some remaining until the 15th of May, but he does not think that any remain there to breed. They are also abundant, in winter, from San Francisco south, through all the inhabitable country. In summer they are found in the Sierra Nevada, to their summits, and are also plentiful in the regions north of the Columbia. A few remain, during the summer, in the cool district about San Francisco. In June, 1854, Dr. Cooper met with its nest near the mouth of the Columbia. It was built in a bush, about a foot from the ground, formed of neatly interwoven grasses, and lined with softer materials. He describes its song as loud, but short and melancholy, heard at intervals during the whole year, and frequently at night.

The Western White-crowned Sparrow was first met with by Mr. Ridgway, at the Summit Meadows, near the summit of Donner Lake Pass of the Sierra Nevada, at an altitude of about seven thousand feet. It was there an abundant and characteristic bird. The males were in full song in all parts of the meadow, and were nesting in such numbers that on the evening of July 9, on halting for the night, in a hurried search no less than twenty-seven of their eggs were obtained within about fifteen minutes. In every instance the nests were embedded under a species of dwarf-willow, with which the ground was covered. The birds were extremely unsuspicious, the male often sitting on a bush within a few feet of the collector, and chanting merrily as the eggs were being blown. In one instance, having occasion to repass a spot from which a nest had been taken, the female was found sitting in the cavity from which its nest had been removed. This species is only a winter visitant of the lower country, but is there universally distributed, and always found in bushy localities.

Mr. Bannister states that this bird was tolerably abundant among the alder-bushes in certain parts of St. Michael’s Island. Mr. Dall found it common at Nulato, and especially so at Fort Yukon. It arrived at Nulato about May 20. Its nests and eggs were obtained from Indians at Nowikakat, on the Yukon River. Dr. Kennerly met with these birds, in February, at White Cliff Creek, New Mexico. They were first observed on approaching the Big Sandy, and from thence to the Colorado they were found in abundance. They were mostly in flocks, and were generally found among the bushes, in the vicinity of water. He also met with it in the valley of the Rio Grande, Corralitos, and Janos Rivers. It seemed to prefer the vicinity of settlements, where it was always seen in greater numbers than elsewhere.

Mr. Dresser found these birds common about San Antonio, Texas, during the winter, arriving late in September. Some may remain and breed, as several were observed there in June. Dr. Coues also found them abundant in Arizona, where he first observed them September 15. After this they became exceedingly numerous, and remained so until January. Later than this only a few stragglers were seen, until April, when they again became abundant. By far the greater part left, and proceeded north to breed.

These Sparrows were found breeding on the Yukon and at Fort Anderson in great numbers by Messrs. MacFarlane, Lockhart, and Ross. Their nests were in nearly all cases found upon the ground, often in tufts of grass, clumps of Labrador tea, or other low bushes. They were composed of hay, and, in nearly every instance, were lined with deer’s hair, and in a few with feathers. A few were without any lining. In selecting a situation for their nests, they seemed generally to give the preference to open or thinly wooded tracts. The male bird was usually seen, or its note heard, in the immediate vicinity of the nest. The eggs were obtained from the 4th of June to the 1st of July. Their maximum number was six; the most common, four.

Mr. B. R. Ross states that this species arrives at the Arctic Circle from about the 15th to the 20th of May, and at Slave Lake only a few days earlier. They are then no longer in flocks, but have already paired. They commence nesting almost immediately upon their arrival at the Yukon and at Fort Good Hope. Mr. Ross found nests made as early as May 20 to 25, while there was still considerable snow upon the ground. They mostly nest, however, in the first half of June, the young usually hatching between the 15th and 30th, and leaving the nests when less than a month old. They all leave the Arctic Circle about the middle of September. A few were seen at Fort Simpson in the latter part of that month. When starting, they gather in small flocks. The nest is built on high ground, among low, open bushes, always at the foot of some shrub or bush, and more or less protected and concealed by grass. It is never placed in the edges of marshes, like _Melospiza lincolni_; nor on small prairies, like the _Passerculus savanna_; nor in thick woods, as does sometimes the _Z. albicollis_. The nest is neatly built, is more compact and of finer materials than that of the latter. It is large and deep, formed externally of coarse grass, and lined with finer materials.

When started from her nest, the female flies off a few yards and flutters silently along the ground to divert attention. If unsuccessful, she flies about her nest uttering sharp, harsh notes of anxiety. The male is less bold on such occasions. Their favorite habitat is light open bushes, affecting neither open plains nor deep woods and never perching so high as twenty feet from the ground, and usually, in all their movements, keeping close to the earth.

Its food, so far as could be observed, consisted almost wholly of seeds, sought mostly on the ground. It hatches only a single brood in a year.

Mr. B. R. Boss adds that this is the most abundant Sparrow throughout the Mackenzie River region, and also the most interesting. Through the spring and summer its melodious song, which strongly calls to mind the first notes of the old air, “O Dear! what can the Matter be?” may be heard from every thicket, both night and day. When sleeping in the woods, Mr. Boss states that he has often been awakened by several of these birds singing near him, answering each other, throughout the short night, when all the other birds were silent. On this account, but for the richness and melody of its song the bird would have made itself quite disagreeable.

The Cree Indians name this Sparrow _Wah-si-pis-chan_, because they think this resembles its notes, the last of which are supposed to imitate the sound of running water. It sings long after the breeding-season is past, and its notes may be heard even into August.

The eggs measure .85 of an inch in length by .65 in breadth, and have a ground of a greenish-white marked with a rusty-brown. They are of a rounded-oval shape.

1. Zonotrichia coronata. ♂ _ad._, Columb. R., 2780.
2. Junco oregonus. ♂ _ad._, Cal., 3920.
3. “ caniceps. ♂ Utah, 11159.
4. Zonotrichia querula. ♂ _ad._, Ft. Union, Dakota, 1940.
5. Junco hyemalis. ♂ Pa., 1287.
6. “ aikeni. ♂ Colorado, 61302.
7. Zonotrichia querula. Autumn.
8. Poospiza bilineata. ♂ _ad._, N. Mex., 6316.
9. “ belli. _Ad._, Nevada, 53516.
10. Zonotrichia albicollis. ♂ _ad._, Pa., 1434.
11. Spizella atrigularis. ♂ _ad._, Coahuila, Mex., 4935.
12. “ “ ♀ _juv._, Cape St. Lucas, 23866.]

Zonotrichia coronata, BAIRD.

GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW.

_Emberiza coronata_, PALLAS, Zoög. Rosso-Asiat. II, 1811, 44, plate.
_Zonotrichia c._, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 461.—HEERM. X, _S_, 48
(nest).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, 201.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Ch. Ac. I,
1869, 284 (Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 197. _Emberiza
atricapilla_, AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 47, pl. cccxciv (not of
GMELIN). _Fringilla atricapilla_, AUD. Synopsis, 1839, 122.—IB.
Birds Am. III, 1841, 162, pl. cxciii. _Fringilla aurocapilla_,
NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d. ed.,) 1840, 555. _Zonotrichia aurocapilla_,
BON. Consp. 1850, 478.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. & Or. Route, Rep. P.
R. R. VI, IV. 1857, 88. _Emberiza atricapilla_, GM. I, 1788, 875
(in part only).—LATH. Ind. 415. _Black-crowned Bunting_, PENNANT,
Arc. Zoöl. II, 364.—LATH. II, I, 202, 49, tab. lv.

SP. CHAR. Hood, from bill to upper part of nape, pure black, the middle longitudinal third occupied by yellow on the anterior half, and pale ash on the posterior. Sides and under parts of head and neck, with upper part of breast, ash-color, passing insensibly into whitish on the middle of the body; sides and under tail-coverts tinged with brownish. A yellowish spot above the eye, bounded anteriorly by a short black line from the eye to the black of the forehead. This yellow spot, however, reduced to a few feathers in spring dress. Interscapular region, with the feathers, streaked with dark brown, suffused with dark rufous externally. Two narrow white bands on the wings. Bill dusky above, paler beneath; legs flesh-color.

Autumnal specimens have more or less of the whole top of head greenish-yellow; the feathers somewhat spotted with dusky; the black stripe of the hood reduced to a narrow superciliary line, or else to a spot anterior to the eye. Length about 7 inches; wing, 3.30.

HAB. Pacific coast from Russian America to Southern California; West Humboldt Mountains, Nev. Black Hills of Rocky Mountains?

HABITS. This species, described and figured by Mr. Audubon as the _Fringilla atricapilla_, is found in western North America, from Alaska to Southern California and Cape St. Lucas, and is almost entirely confined to the Pacific Province, being known east of the Cascade Mountains and Sierra Nevada only as stragglers. In its general habits it is said to greatly resemble the _Z. gambeli_. In the vicinity of Fort Dalles, and also in the neighborhood of Fort Steilacoom, Dr. Suckley found it quite abundant in the summer.

Dr. Cooper says that it is only a straggler in the forest regions west of the Cascade Mountains, but that it probably migrates more abundantly to the open plains eastward of them. He met with them but once near Puget Sound, May 10, when they were apparently migrating. Dr. Cooper found a few of this species wintering as far south as San Diego, associating with _Z. gambeli_. They were much less familiar, did not come about the houses, but kept among the dense thickets. They were then silent, nor has he ever heard them utter any song. He met with none near the summit of the Sierra Nevada.

Dr. Newberry found these birds abundant in the vicinity of San Francisco in winter.

Mr. Nuttall met with the young birds of this species on the central tablelands of the Rocky Mountains, in the prairies. They were running on the ground. He heard no note from them. He afterwards saw a few stragglers, in the early part of winter, in the thickets of the forests of the Columbia River, near Fort Vancouver. He also met with them, in the winter and until late in the spring, in the woods and thickets of California.

Dr. Heermann found this species very abundant in the fall season, generally associated with the California Song Sparrow and the _Z. gambeli_. It resorts to the deep shady thickets and woods, where it passes the greater part of its time. In the mountainous districts it prefers the hillsides, covered with dense undergrowth. It occasionally breeds in California, as Dr. Heermann found its nest in a bush near Sacramento City. It was composed of coarse stalks of weeds, and lined internally with fine roots. The eggs were four in number, and are described as having been of an ashy-white ground, with markings of brown umber, at times appearing almost black from the depth of their shade. They were marked also with a few spots of a neutral tint.

Many of these birds were obtained in Sitka and in Kodiak, by Bischoff, and also in British Columbia by Elliot.

Only one specimen of this species was met with by Mr. Ridgway in his explorations with Mr. Clarence King’s survey. This was taken October 7, 1867, in the West Humboldt Mountains, in company with a flock of _Z. gambeli_.

Zonotrichia albicollis, BONAP.

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW.

_Fringilla albicollis_, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 926.—WILSON, Am.
Orn. III, 1811, 51, pl. xxii, f. 2.—LICHT. Verz. Doubl. No. 247
(1823). _Zonotrichia albicollis_, BP. Consp. 1850, 478.—CAB. Mus.
Hein. 1851, 132.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 463.—SAMUELS, 311.
_Passer pennsylvanicus_, BRISSON, 1760, Appendix, 77. _Fringilla
pennsylvanica_, LATH. Index, I, 1790, 445.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I,
1831, 42; V, 497, pl. viii.—IB. Syn. 1839, 121.—IB. Birds Am. III,
1841, 153, pl. cxci.—MAX. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 276. _Fringilla
(Zonotrichia) pennsylvanica_, SW. F. B. Am. II, 1831, 256.
_Zonotrichia pennsylvanica_, BON. List, 1838.

SP. CHAR. Two black stripes on the crown, separated by a median one of white. A broad superciliary stripe from the base of the mandible to the occiput, yellow as far as the middle of the eye and white behind this. A broad black streak on the side of the head from behind the eye. Chin white, abruptly defined against the dark ash of the sides of the head and upper part of the breast, fading into white on the belly, and margined by a narrow black maxillary line. Edge of wing and axillaries yellow. Back and edges of secondaries rufous-brown, the former streaked with dark brown. Two narrow white bands across the wing-coverts. Length, 7 inches; wing, 3.10; tail, 3.20. Young of the year not in the collection.

HAB. Eastern Province of North America to the Missouri. Breeding in most of the northern United States and British Provinces, and wintering in the United States almost to their southern limit. Aberdineshire, England, August 17, 1867 (Zoölogist, Feb., 1869, 1547; P. Z. S. 1857, 52). Scotland (Newton, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1870, 52).

Female smaller, and the colors rather duller. Immature and winter specimens have the white chin-patch less abruptly defined, the white markings on the top and sides of the head tinged with brown. Some specimens, apparently mature, show quite distinct streaks on the breast and sides of throat and body.

HABITS. The White-throated Sparrow is, at certain seasons, an abundant bird in all parts of North America, from the Great Plains to the Atlantic, and from Georgia to the extreme Arctic regions. A few breed in favorable situations in Massachusetts, especially in the extreme northwestern part of the State. It breeds abundantly in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, and in all the British Provinces.

Sir John Richardson states that they reach the Saskatchewan in the middle of May, and spread throughout the fur countries, as far, at least, as the 66th parallel, to breed. He states that he saw a female sitting on seven eggs near the Cumberland House, as early as June 4. The nest was placed under a fallen tree, was made of grass, lined with deer’s hair and a few feathers. Another, found at Great Bear’s Lake, was lined with the _setæ_ of the _Bryum uliginosum_. He describes the eggs as of a pale mountain-green, thickly marbled with reddish-brown. When the female was disturbed, she ran silently off in a crouching manner, like a Lark. He describes the note of this bird as a clear song of two or three notes, uttered very distinctly, but without variety,—a very incomplete description.

Mr. Kennicott states that this species does not extend its migrations as far to the north as _Z. gambeli_, and is even much less numerous on the south shores of the Slave Lake, where he did not observe half so many of this as of the other. It also nests later, as he found the first nest observed on the 22d of June, with the eggs quite fresh, incubation not having commenced, and found others after that date. On English River he found two nests with eggs on the 9th and 17th of July, and one near the Cumberland House on the 30th of June. Two of these were in low swampy ground among large trees, the other on high ground among small bushes. They were constructed on large bases of moss, and lined with soft grasses. When startled from her nest, the female always crept silently away through the grass.

He met with this species in considerable flocks, accompanied by small numbers of _Z. leucophrys_, on the north shore of Lake Superior, on the 11th of May. He saw individuals on the 29th of May, near the Lake of the Woods, and it doubtless breeds as far south as that region. In the fall it was not seen at Fort Simpson later than the last of September. As it is a much more eastern bird than _Z. gambeli_, it is probably in greater abundance on the eastern end of Slave Lake. Its song he regards as by no means so attractive as that of _Z. gambeli_ or of _Z. leucophrys_. Its general habits are very much like those of the former, and though by no means a strictly terrestrial bird, it rarely perches high on trees, and generally flies near the ground, except in its long migratory flights.

Notwithstanding the slighting manner in which the song of this bird is spoken of by some writers, in certain parts of the country its clear, prolonged, and peculiar whistle has given to it quite a local fame and popularity. Among the White Mountains, where it breeds abundantly, it is known as the Peabody Bird, and its remarkably clear whistle resounds in all their glens and secluded recesses. Its song consists of twelve distinct notes, which are not unfrequently interpreted into various ludicrous travesties. As this song is repeated with no variations, and quite frequently from early morning until late in the evening, it soon becomes quite monotonous.

Among the White Mountains I have repeatedly found its nests. They were always on the ground, usually sheltered by surrounding grass, and at the foot of bushes or a tree, or in the woods under a fallen log. In that region it retained all its wild, shy habits, rarely being found in the neighborhood of dwellings or in cultivated grounds. But at Halifax this was not so. There I found them breeding in gardens, on the edge of the city, and in close proximity to houses, apparently not more shy than the common Song Sparrow.

Wilson states that these birds winter in most of the States south of New England, and he found them particularly numerous near the Roanoke River, collecting in flocks on the borders of swampy thickets, among long rank weeds, the seeds of which formed their principal food. He gives the 20th of April as the date of their disappearance, but I have observed them lingering in the Capitol grounds in Washington several weeks after that date. They pass through Eastern Massachusetts from the 10th to the 20th of May, and repass early in October. A few stragglers sometimes appear at earlier dates, but irregularly. In Western Maine, where it is quite common, Professor Verrill states that it sometimes arrives by the middle of April. Near Springfield, Mass., Mr. Allen noted their appearance between the last of April and the 20th of May; in fall, from the last of September through October. Their favorite haunts are moist thickets. The young males do not acquire their full plumage until the second spring, but sing and breed in the plumage of the females, as Mr. Allen ascertained by dissection. Mr. Hildreth observed a pair near Springfield during three successive summers, and although he could not find the nest, he saw them feeding their scarcely fledged young birds.

At Columbia, S. C., Dr. Coues found these Sparrows very abundant, from October through April. They sing, more or less, all winter, and during the last few weeks of their stay are quite musical. Many hundreds pass the months of March and April in the gardens of that city, though during the winter they were mostly to be found in thickets and fields, in company with many other species.

A single specimen of this bird was killed in Aberdeenshire, August 17, 1867, and a second was lately captured alive near Brighton (P. Z. S., June 4, 1872).

Mr. Audubon says that this bird visits Louisiana and all the Southern districts in winter, remaining from November to March, in great numbers. They form groups of from thirty to fifty, and live together in great harmony, feeding upon small seeds. At this time they are plump to excess, and are regarded as a great delicacy.

When kept in confinement these birds become quite tame, and in the spring will sing at all hours of the day or night.

The nest of this bird is usually, if not always, on the ground, but in various situations, as I have found them on a hillside, in the midst of low underbrush, in a swampy thicket, at the foot of some large tree in a garden, as at Halifax, by the edge of a small pond, or in a hollow and decaying stump. Their nest is large, deep, and capacious, with a base of moss or coarse grasses, woven with finer stems above and lined with hair, a few feathers, fine rootlets of plants or soft grasses. The eggs vary from four to seven in number. Their ground-color is of a pale green or a greenish-white, marked over the entire egg with a fox-colored or rusty brown. Occasionally these markings are sparsely scattered, permitting the ground to be plainly visible, but generally they are so very abundant as to cover the entire egg so closely as to conceal all other shade, and give to the whole a deep uniform rufous-brown hue, through which the under color of light green is hardly distinguishable. They measure .90 by .68 of an inch.

Zonotrichia querula, GAMBEL.

HARRIS’S SPARROW; BLACK-HOODED SPARROW.

_Fringilla querula_, NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 555 (Westport,
Mo.). _Zonotrichia querula_, GAMBEL, J. A. N. Sc. 2d Ser. I, 1847,
51.—BONAP. Consp. 1850, 478.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 462.—ALLEN,
Amer. Naturalist, May, 1872. _Fringilla harrisi_, AUD. Birds Am.
VII, 1843, 331, pl. cccclxxxiv. _Fringilla comata_, PR. MAX. Reise
II, 1841.—IB. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 279. _Zonotrichia comata_, BP.
Consp. 1850, 479.

SP. CHAR. Hood and nape, sides of head anterior to and including the eyes, chin, throat, and a few spots in the middle of the upper part of the breast and on its sides, black. Sides of head and neck ash-gray, with the trace of a narrow crescent back of the ear-coverts. Interscapular region of back with the feathers reddish-brown streaked with dark brown. Breast and belly clear white. Sides of body light brownish, streaked. Two narrow white bands across the greater and middle coverts. Length about 7 inches; wing, 3.40; tail, 3.65.

HAB. Missouri River, above Fort Leavenworth. Chillicothe, Mo. (HOY). Very common in Eastern Kansas (ALLEN). San Antonio, Texas, spring (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 488).

The bill of this species appears to be yellowish-red. More immature specimens vary in having the black of the head above more restricted, the nape and sides of the head to the bill pale reddish-brown, lighter on the latter region. Others have the feathers of the anterior portion of the hood edged with whitish. In all there is generally a trace of black anterior to the eye.

This species has a considerably larger bill than _Z. leucophrys_, the mandible especially.

HABITS. This species was first described in 1840, by Mr. Nuttall, from specimens obtained by him near Independence, Mo., near the close of the month of April. He again met with them on the following 5th of May, when not far from the banks of the Little Vermilion River, a branch of the Kansas. He found them frequenting thickets, and uttering, chiefly in the early morning, but also occasionally at other parts of the day, a long, drawling, faint, solemn, and monotonous succession of notes, resembling _tē-dē-dē-dē_.

Since then but little additional information has been obtained in regard to their general habits, their geographical distribution, or their mode of breeding, single specimens only having been taken at considerable intervals in the valley of the Missouri and elsewhere until 1872. Two specimens were secured by Mr. Dresser, near San Antonio, in Western Texas, occurring on the Medina River during their spring migrations. More recently this bird was taken twice by Mr. H. W. Parker, in Jasper County, Iowa. The latest of these was secured May 19.

Professor F. H. Snow, in his List of Kansas Birds, published April, 1872, enumerates this species as a bird frequently taken in Kansas in the winter, and probably resident; and Mr. J. A. Allen (American Naturalist, May, 1872) states that Harris’s Finch was, next to the Cardinal, the most abundant species of the family of Sparrows and Finches in the vicinity of Leavenworth, as it was also one of the largest and handsomest. He found it almost exclusively frequenting the damper parts of the woods, associating with the White-throated Sparrow, much resembling it both in habits and in song. Nothing has so far been published respecting the nest and eggs.

GENUS JUNCO, WAGLER.

_Junco_, WAGLER, Isis, 1831. (Type, _Fringilla cinerea_, SW.)
_Niphæa_, AUDUBON, Syn. 1839. (Type, _Emberiza hyemalis_, GM.)

[Line drawing: _Junco oregonus._
32411 ♂]

GEN. CHAR. Bill small, conical; culmen curved at the tip; the lower jaw quite as high as the upper. Tarsus longer than the middle toe; outer toe longer than the inner, barely reaching to the base of the middle claw; hind toe reaching as far as the middle of the latter; extended toes reaching about to the middle of the tail. Wings rather short; reaching over the basal fourth of the exposed surface of the tail; primaries, however, considerably longer than the secondaries and tertials, which are nearly equal. The second quill longest, the third to fifth successively but little shorter; first longer than sixth, much exceeding secondaries. Tail moderate, a little shorter than the wings; slightly emarginate and rounded. Feathers rather narrow; oval at the end. No streaks on the head or body; color above uniform on the head, back, or rump, separately or on all together. Belly white; outer tail-feathers white. Young birds streaked above and below.

The essential characters of this genus are the middle toe rather shorter than the short tarsus; the lateral toes slightly unequal, the outer reaching the base of the middle claw; the tail a little shorter than the wings, slightly emarginate. In _Junco cinereus_ the claws are longer; the lower mandible a little lower than the upper.

Species and Varieties.

COMMON CHARACTERS. Prevailing color plumbeous; abdomen, crissum, and lateral tail-feathers white.

A. Bill entirely light flesh-colored, dusky only at extreme
point. Color of jugulum (deep ash or plumbeous-black) abruptly
defined against the pure white of the abdomen.

_a._ Posterior outline of the dark color of the jugulum
convex; sides pinkish.

1. J. oregonus. Back and wings more or less tinged with
dark rusty, in sharp contrast with the black (♂) or ash (♀)
of the head and neck. _Hab._ Pacific Province of North
America, from Sitka southward; east across the Middle
Province of United States, to the Rocky Mountains (where
mixed with _J. caniceps_[116]) occasionally to the Plains
(where mixed with _J. hyemalis_[117]).

_b._ Posterior outline of the dark color of the jugulum
concave; sides ashy.

2. J. hyemalis. Back and wings without rusty tinge.

Wing without any white; three outer tail-feathers only,
marked with white. Bill, .40 and .25; wing, 3.10; tail,
2.80; tarsus, .80. _Hab._ Eastern Province North America.
Straggling west to Arizona (COUES); in the northern Rocky
Mountains, mixed with _J. oregonus_ … var. _hyemalis_.

Wing with two white bands (on tips of middle and greater
coverts); four outer tail-feathers marked with white.
Bill, .50 and .30; wing, 3.40; tail, 3.20. _Hab._ High
mountains of Colorado (El Paso Co., AIKEN) … var. _aikeni_.

3. J. caniceps. Back (interscapulars) rufous; scapulars
and wings uniform ashy. _Hab._ Central Rocky Mountains of
United States. (Along southern boundary mixed with _J.
cinereus_.[118])

B. Bill with the upper mandible black, the lower yellow. Ash
of the jugulum fading gradually into the grayish-white of the
abdomen.

4. J. cinereus. Whole back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and
tertials rufous.

Throat and jugulum pale ash; back bright rufous. Wing,
3.10; tail, 3.00; bill, .34 and .25; tarsus, .80. _Hab._
Tablelands and mountains of Mexico … var. _cinereus_.[119]

Throat and jugulum deep ash; back dull, or
olivaceous-rufous. Wing, 3.15; tail, 3.10; bill, .44 and
.34; tarsus, .90. _Hab._ High mountains of Guatemala …
var. _alticola_.[120]

Junco hyemalis, SCLATER.

SNOWBIRD.

_Fringilla hyemalis_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, (10th ed.,) 1758, 183 (not
of GMELIN or LATHAM).—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 72; V, 505, pl.
xiii.—MAX. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 277. _Fringilla (Spiza) hyemalis_,
BON. Syn. 1828, 109. _Emberiza hyemalis_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I,
1766, 308. _Struthus hyemalis_, BON. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850,
475. _Niphæa hyemalis_, AUD. Synopsis, 1839, 106.—IB. Birds Am.
III, 1841, 88, pl. clxvii. _Junco hyemalis_, SCLATER, Pr. Zoöl.
Soc. 1857, 7.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 468.—COUES, P. A. N. S.
1861, 224.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 284.—SAMUELS,
314. _Fringilla hudsonia_, FORSTER, Philos. Trans. LXII, 1772,
428.—GMELIN, I, 1788, 926.—WILSON’S Index, VI, 1812, p. xiii.
_Fringilla nivalis_, WILSON, II, 1810, 129, pl. xvi, f. 6.

SP. CHAR. Everywhere of a grayish or dark ashy-black, deepest anteriorly; the middle of the breast behind and of the belly, the under tail-coverts, and first and second external tail-feathers, white; the third tail-feather white, margined with black. Length, 6.25; wing, about 3. Female paler. In winter washed with brownish. Young streaked above and below.

HAB. Eastern United States to the Missouri, and as far west as Black Hills. Stragglers at Fort Whipple, Arizona, and mountains of Colorado.

The wing is rounded; the second quill longest; the third, fourth, and fifth, successively, a little shorter; the first longer than the sixth. Tail slightly rounded, and a little emarginate. In the full spring dress there is no trace of any second color on the back, except an exceedingly faint and scarcely appreciable wash of dull brownish over the whole upper parts. The markings of the third tail-feather vary somewhat in specimens. Sometimes the whole tip is margined with brown; sometimes the white extends to the end; sometimes both webs are margined with brown; sometimes the outer is white entirely; sometimes the brownish wash on the back is more distinct.

Some specimens (No. 52,702 and 52,701, males) from Sun River, Dakota, appear to be hybrids with _oregonus_. They have the general appearance of _hyemalis_, the back being nearly uniform with the head (with a wash of sepia-brown, however), and the head and neck of the same dark plumbeous; the sides, however, are pinkish, and the plumbeous on the jugulum has its posterior outline convex, as in _oregonus_. If, as there is every reason to believe, these specimens are really hybrids, then we have the two extreme forms of the genus connected by specimens of such a condition; thus, _hyemalis_ with _oregonus_, _oregonus_ with _caniceps_ (= _annectens_, Baird), and _caniceps_ with _cinereus_ (= _dorsalis_, Henry). It may perhaps be considered a serious question whether all (including _alticola_) are not, in reality, geographical races of one species. However, as there is no possibility of ever proving this, it may be best to consider them as representative species, and these specimens of intermediate characters as hybrids.

HABITS. The common familiar Snowbird of the Eastern States is found throughout all North America, east of the Black Hills, from Texas to the Arctic regions. Wherever found, it is at certain seasons a very abundant and an equally familiar bird.

It nests as far south, in mountainous regions, as Virginia, and thence to New York and the northern parts of the New England States, breeding only in the highlands, but descending more and more into the plains as we proceed north. As it is a very hardy bird, its migrations are irregular and uncertain. In some seasons I have observed but few at irregular intervals; and in others, in which the spring was cold and backward, I have met with them in every month except July and August.

Mr. Kennicott found but few birds of this species breeding as far south as Fort Resolution or Slave Lake, and was unable to find any of their nests, though he met with a few birds that were evidently breeding there. He found it afterwards nesting in the greatest abundance about latitude 65°. They were very numerous on the Yukon, and Mr. MacFarlane found them breeding plentifully on the Anderson River, at the edge of the barren-ground region.

The nests found by Mr. Kennicott were all on the ground, more or less concealed in tufts of grass, dry leaves, or projecting roots. Some were in thick woods, others in more open regions, and were lined with moose-hair.

Mr. Ross states that this species frequents all the Mackenzie River region in summer, arriving about the 20th of April, and leaving about the 10th of October. Besides its call-note, or chirp, it has a very pretty song.

Mr. Dall also remarks that they were quite common at Nulato in the spring, not arriving there, however, until about the first of June.

According to Mr. Dresser, it is found occasionally about San Antonio in winter, and Dr. Woodhouse says that it is also common in the Indian Territory in fall and winter. According to Mr. Audubon, it makes its appearance in Louisiana in November, and remains there until early spring. It is also abundant in South Carolina, arriving there in October and leaving in April.