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Char. Toes and claws very stout; the lateral claws reaching beyond the middle of the middle one; all very slightly curved.

Passerella iliaca.

846

Bill conical, the outlines straight; both mandibles equal; wings long, longer than the even tail or slightly rounded, reaching nearly to the middle of its exposed portion. Hind claw longer than its digit; the toe nearly as long as the middle toe; tarsus longer than the middle toe. Brown above, either uniformly so or faintly streaked; triangular spots below.

This section embraces a single North American genus, chiefly characterized by the remarkable elongation of the lateral claws, as well as by the peculiar shape and large size of all the claws; the lateral, especially, are so much lengthened as to extend nearly as far as the middle. The only approach to this, as far as I recollect, among United States Conirostres, is in Pipilo megalonyx, and Xanthocephalus icterocephalus.

Genus PASSERELLA, Swainson

Passerella, Swainson, Class. Birds, II, 1837, 288. (Type, Fringilla iliaca, Merrem.)

Gen. Char. Body stout. Bill conical, not notched, the outlines straight; the two jaws of equal depth; roof of upper mandible deeply excavated, and vaulted; not knobbed. Tarsus scarcely longer than the middle toe; outer toe little longer than the inner, its claw reaching to the middle of the central one. Hind toe about equal to the inner lateral; the claws all long, and moderately curved only; the posterior rather longer than the middle, and equal to its toe. Wings long, pointed, reaching to the middle of the tail; the tertials scarcely longer than secondaries; second and third quills longest; first equal to the fifth. Tail very nearly even, scarcely longer than the wing. Inner claw contained scarcely one and a half times in its toe proper.

Color. Rufous or slaty; obsoletely streaked or uniform above; thickly spotted with triangular blotches beneath.

Species and Varieties

Common Characters. Ground-color above, slaty-ash, or sepia; wings, upper tail-coverts, and tail more rufescent. Beneath, pure white, with numerous triangular spots over breast and throat, streaks along sides, and a triangular blotch on side of throat, of the same color as the wings. The pectoral spots aggregated on the middle of the breast.

A. Hind claw not longer than its digit. Back with broad streaks of dark rufous.

1. P. iliaca. Ground-color above ash (more or less overlaid in winter with a rufous wash); wings, dorsal spots, upper tail-coverts, tail, auriculars, and markings of lower parts, bright reddish-rufous. Wing, 3.50; tail, 2.90; tarsus, .87; middle toe, without claw, .67; hind claw, .35. Hab. Eastern Province of North America.

B. Hind claw much longer than its digit. Back without streaks.

2. P. townsendi.

Head and neck above with back, scapulars, and rump, rich sepia-brown, almost uniform with wings and tail. Belly thickly spotted; tibiæ deep brown; supraloral space not whitish. Wing, 3.05; tail, 2.85; tarsus, .80; middle toe, .62; hind claw, .43. Hab. Pacific Province of North America, from Kodiak south to Fort Tejon, Cal. (in winter) … var. townsendi.

Head and neck above, with back, scapulars, and rump, slaty-ash, in strong contrast with the rufescent-brown of wings and tail. Belly with only minute specks, or immaculate; tibiæ grayish; supraloral space distinctly white. Spots beneath clove-brown.

Bill, .34 from nostril, by .25 deep at base; wing, 3.30; tail, 3.50; tarsus, .85; middle toe, .60; hind claw, .45. Hab. Middle Province of United States … var. schistacea.

Bill, .35 from nostril and .47 deep; wing, 3.30; tail, 3.50; tarsus, .83; middle toe, .63; hind claw, .50. Hab. Sierra Nevada, from Fort Tejon, north to Carson City, Nev … var. megarhynchus.

No great violence would be done by considering all the above forms as races of one species, the characters separating iliaca from the rest being of no great importance. However, in the large series examined, there is no specimen of iliaca at all aberrant, and none approach in the slightest degree to any of the other forms. There can be no doubt whatever of the specific identity of the three forms presented under section “B,” as is plainly shown by specimens of intermediate characters. These western forms are parallels of the western race of Melospiza; schistacea representing M. fallax, megarhynchus the M. heermanni, and townsendi the M. guttata or rufina.

Passerella iliaca, Swainson

FOX-COLORED SPARROW

Fringilla iliaca, Merrem. “Beitr. zur besond. Gesch. der Vögel, II, 1786-87, 40, pl. x.”—Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 923.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 58; V, 512, pl. cviii.—Ib. Syn. 1839.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 139, pl. clxxxvi. Passerella iliaca, Sw. Birds, II, 1837, 288.—Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 477.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 488.—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 285.—Samuels, 325. Fringilla rufa, Wilson, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 53, pl. xxiv, f. 4.—Licht. Verz. 1823, No. 248. Fringilla ferruginea, Wilson, Catalogue, VI, 1812.—Hall’s ed. Wilson, II, 255. “Emberiza pratensis, Vieill.,” Gray.

Passerella townsendi.

Sp. Char. General aspect of upper parts foxy-red, the ground-color and the sides of neck being ashy; the interscapular feathers each with a large blotch of fox-red; this color glossing the top of head and nape; sometimes faintly, sometimes more distinctly; the rump unmarked; the upper coverts and surface of the tail continuous fox-red. Two narrow white bands on the wing. Beneath, with under tail-coverts and axillars, clear white, the sides of head and of throat, the jugulum, breast, and sides of body, conspicuously and sharply blotched with fox-red; more triangular across breast, more linear and darker on sides. Sometimes the entire head above is continuously reddish. First quill rather less than fifth. Hind toe about equal to its claw. Length, 7.50; wing, 3.50; tail, 2.90; tarsus, .87; middle toe, without claw, .67; hind claw, .35.

Hab. Eastern North America to the Mississippi, to the north along valley of the Mackenzie, almost or quite to the Arctic coast, and down the valley of the Yukon to the Pacific. Breeds throughout the interior of British America.

In summer, the ash is more predominant above; in winter, it is overlaid more or less by a wash of rufous, as described above.

The young plumage we have not seen. The P. obscura, Verrill,9 may be referrible to it.

Habits. The Fox-colored Sparrow, in its seasons of migrations, is a very common bird throughout the United States east of the Mississippi River. It has not been ascertained to breed in any part of the United States, though it may do so in Northeastern Maine. Mr. Boardman has not met with it near Calais, nor did I see nor could I hear of it in any part of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick that I visited. In passing north, these birds begin their northern movements in the middle of March, and from that time to the last of April they are gradually approaching their summer quarters. Their first appearance near Boston is about the 15th of March, and they linger in that vicinity, or successive parties appear, until about the 20th of April. The last comers are usually in song. On their return, the middle or last of October, they pass rapidly, and usually make no stay. In Southwestern Texas these birds were not observed by Mr. Dresser, nor in Arizona by Dr. Coues, but in the Indian Territory Dr. Woodhouse found them very abundant on the approach of winter. Dr. Coues speaks of them as common in South Carolina from November to April, but less numerous than most of the Sparrows.

In the vicinity of Washington this bird is found from October to April. I have met with small groups of them through all the winter months among the fallen leaves in retired corners of the Capitol grounds, where they were busily engaged, in the manner of a Pipilo, in scratching in the earth for their food. At those periods when the ground was open, their habits were eminently similar to those of the gallinaceous birds. In March and April they were in company with the White-throated Sparrows, but passed north at least a month earlier.

During their stay in the United States these birds keep in small distinctive flocks, never mingling, though often in the same places, with other species. They are found in the edges of thickets and in moist woods. They are usually silent, and only occasionally utter a call-note, low and soft. In the spring the male becomes quite musical, and is one of our sweetest and most remarkable singers. His voice is loud, clear, and melodious; his notes full, rich, and varied; and his song is unequalled by any of this family that I have ever heard. They soon become reconciled to confinement and quite tame, and sing a good part of the year if care is taken in regard to their food. If allowed to eat to excess, they become very fat and heavy, and lose their song.

Dr. Coues did not meet with these birds in Labrador, but Mr. Audubon found them there and in Newfoundland in large numbers; and, according to the observations of Sir John Richardson, they breed in the wooded districts of the fur countries, up to the 68th parallel of latitude.

These birds were also found abundantly at Fort Simpson and Great Slave Lake by Mr. Robert Kennicott and Mr. B. R. Ross; at Fort Anderson, Anderson River, Swan River, and in various journeys, by Mr. R. MacFarlane; at Fort Resolution, Fort Good Hope, La Pierre House, and Fort Yukon, by Mr. Lockhart; at Peel’s River, by Mr. J. Flett; at St. Michael’s, by Mr. H. M. Bannister; and at Nulato, by Mr. W. H. Dall. They were observed at Fort Simpson as early as May 17, and by Mr. Kennicott as late as September 17. Mr. Dall states that at Nulato he found this Sparrow in abundance. It arrived there from the 10th to the 15th of May. It breeds there, and its eggs were obtained on the Yukon River. In the month of August in 1867 and of July in 1868 it was abundant at the mouth of the Yukon and at St. Michael’s. One was also shot at Unalaklik. The birds seemed to prefer thickets to the more open country. Mr. Bannister did not find it abundant. He shot only one specimen during the season, in an alder thicket near the fort; and Mr. Pease, who was familiar with the species, only saw a single individual.

According to the reports of both Mr. MacFarlane and Mr. Kennicott, the nest of this species was found both on the ground and in trees. In one instance it was in a tree about eight feet from the ground, and in its structure was said to be similar to the nests of Turdus aliciæ. They were nearly all found after the middle of June, a few as early as the 7th. One was found on the ground at the foot of a tuft of dwarf willows, which helped to conceal it from view. This was composed of coarse hay, lined with some of a finer quality, a few deer-hairs, and a small quantity of fresh and growing moss, intermingled together. In speaking of this nest Mr. MacFarlane states that all the nests of this Sparrow he had previously met with had been built in the midst of branches of pine or spruce trees, and had been similar to those of the T. aliciæ, which, in this instance, it did not resemble. He adds that this species, though not numerous, extended quite to the borders of the wooded country, to the north and northwest of Fort Anderson. Afterwards he observed several other nests on the ground, all of which were similar to the last, and it is by no means impossible that in certain instances these birds may have occupied old nests of the T. aliciæ, and used them for purposes of incubation. Richardson states that its nests are constructed in a low bush, and are made of dry grass, hair, and feathers. He states that the eggs are five in number, of a pale mountain-green tint, and marbled with irregular spots of brown.

Mr. Audubon, who found several of the nests of this bird in Labrador, near the coast, describes them as large for the size of the bird, and as usually placed on the ground among moss or tall grass near the stem of a creeping fir, the branches of which usually conceal it from view. Its exterior is loosely formed of dry grasses and moss, with a carefully disposed inner layer of fine grasses, circularly arranged. The lining consists of very delicate fibrous roots, with feathers of different kinds of water-fowl. In one instance he noted the down of the eider-duck. He found their eggs from the middle of June to the 5th of July. When their nest was approached, the female affected lameness, and employed all the usual arts to decoy the intruder away. They raised but one brood in a season, and about the first of September left Labrador for the south in small flocks, made up of members of one family.

Their eggs measure from .92 to an inch in length, and .70 in breadth. They are oblong in shape. Their ground-color is a light bluish-white, thickly spotted with a rusty-brown, often so fully as to conceal the ground.

Passerella townsendi, Nuttall

TOWNSEND’S SPARROW

? Emberiza unalaschkensis, Gmel. II, 1788, 875 (based on Aonalaschka Bunting, Lath. II, 202, 48; Unalaschka B., Pennant, 52). Passerella u. Finsch, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 53 (Alaska). Fringilla townsendi, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 236, pl. ccccxxiv, f. 7.—Ib. Syn. 1839.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 43, pl. clxxxvii. Fringilla (Passerella) townsendi, Nutt. Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 533. Passerella townsendi, Bon. Conspectus, 1850, 477.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 489.—Cooper & Suckley, 204.—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 285. Fringilla meruloides, Vig. Zoöl. Blossom (Monterey, Cal.), 1839, 19. ? Emberiza (Zonotrichia) rufina, Kittlitz, Denkw. 1858, 200. (He compares it with P. iliaca, but says it is darker. Sitka.)

Sp. Char. Above very dark olive-brown, with a tinge of rufous, the color continuous and uniform throughout, without any trace of blotches or spots; the upper tail-coverts and outer edges of the wing and tail feathers rather lighter and brighter. The under parts white, but thickly covered with approximating triangular blotches colored like the back, sparsest on the middle of the body and on the throat; the spots on the belly smaller. Side almost continuously like the back; tibiæ and under tail-coverts similar, the latter edged with paler. Axillars brown; paler on edges. Claws all very large and long; the hinder claw longer than its toe. First and sixth quills about equal. Length, about 7 inches; wing, about 3.00.

Hab. Pacific coast of United States, as far south as Sacramento, and Fort Tejon? north to Kodiak (and Unalaschka?).

Passerella townsendi.

2874 ♀

This species differs a good deal in form from P. iliaca. The claws are much larger and stouter, the wing a good deal shorter and more rounded. The differences in color are very appreciable, the tints being dark sepia-brown instead of red, and perfectly uniform above, not spotted; the under parts much more thickly spotted.

Specimens from Alaska show a tendency to longer and perhaps more slender bills. Some are rather more rufous-brown than the type; others have a faint tinge of ashy anteriorly, although scarcely appreciable. This is especially noticeable in some skins from Fort Tejon, they being almost exactly intermediate between townsendi and schistacea, or megarhynchus.

Young birds are not materially different from the adult, except in having the white of under parts replaced by pale rusty; the back is rather duller in color, but without spots or stripes of any kind.

No. 46,620 from British Columbia has the bill much stouter than in the average.

It is by no means certain, however probable, that this bird is the E. unalaschkensis of Gmelin, an important objection being its absence so far in collections received by the Smithsonian Institution from that island. We therefore leave the question open for the present.

Habits. The history of this western analogue of the Fox-colored Sparrow is still quite imperfectly known. It was first obtained in Oregon by Mr. Townsend, on the 15th of February. He describes it as a very active and a very shy bird, keeping constantly among the low bushes of wormwood, and on the ground in their vicinity. It was partially gregarious, six or eight being usually seen together. Its call-note was a short, sharp, quick chirp, and it also had occasionally a low weak warble.

Dr. Gambel, referring probably to its occurrence in winter in California, speaks of this bird as an abundant resident in that State, which is not correct, it being only a winter visitant, and not abundant south of San Francisco. He describes its habits as very different from those of any other Sparrow, and more like those of a Thrush. It is said to keep in retired bushy places, or in underwood, and was scarcely ever seen except on the ground, and then would scarcely ever be discovered but for the noise it made in scratching among the leaves. It was silent and unsuspicious, and he rarely heard it utter even its occasional chirp.

Dr. Cooper states that he found this Sparrow only a winter resident in Washington Territory, where, in company with other Sparrows, it kept constantly on the ground, frequenting the thickets and scratching among the fallen leaves for its food. It was most common in the interior, but in very cold weather sought the coast, in company with the Snowbird and other species. He observed a few lingering about the Straits of Fuca until April. After that he saw no more of them until their return southward in October. During their winter residence Dr. Cooper never heard them sing. Dr. Suckley found them rather abundant near Fort Steilacoom, though not so common as the Melospiza rufina, which they greatly resembled in habits and in general appearance.

Dr. Heermann describes them as abundant and migratory in California, visiting that State only in winter. He speaks of them as of a solitary and quiet nature, resorting to the thickets and underwood for its food, turning over the leaves and scratching up the ground in the manner of the Brown Thrush, occasionally hopping backwards as if to ascertain the results of its labors.

Dr. Cooper, in his Report on the Birds of California, reaffirms that this bird is only a winter visitant to the lower country near the Columbia, but also conjectures that it spends the summer in the Cascade Mountains, between April and October. Specimens have been obtained near San Francisco in winter. It seemed to him to be both a shy and a silent bird, frequenting only woods or thick bushes, and while there constantly scratching among the fallen leaves, and feeding both on seeds and insects. He has seen either this bird or the P. megarhynchus as far south as San Diego in winter. He has also noticed its arrival near San Francisco as early as October 20.

On the Spokan Plains, in British Columbia, Mr. J. K. Lord first met with this species. They were there not uncommon in dark swampy places east of the Cascades. These birds he found remarkable for their singular habit of scratching dead leaves or decayed material of any sort with their feet, exactly as do barn-door fowls,—sending the dirt right, left, and behind. It picks up seeds, insects, larvæ, or anything eatable that it thus digs out, and then proceeds to scratch for more. The long and unusually strong claws with which this bird is provided seem particularly well adapted for these habits, so unusual in a Sparrow. At almost any time, by waiting a few moments, one may be pretty sure to hear the scratching of several of these birds from under the tangle of fallen timber.

Several specimens were obtained in Sitka by Bischoff and others, but without any record of their habits.

Passerella townsendi, var. schistacea, Baird

Passerella schistacea, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 490, pl. lxix, f. 3.

11234 ♂

Sp. Char. Bill slender, the length being .34 from nostril, the depth .25; the upper mandible much swollen at the base; the under yellow. Above and on the sides uniform slate-gray; the upper surface of wings, tail-feathers, and upper coverts dark brownish-rufous; ear-coverts streaked with white. Beneath pure white, with broad triangular arrow-shaped and well-defined spots of slate-gray like the back everywhere, except along the middle of the belly; not numerous on the throat. A hoary spot at the base of the bill above the loral region; axillars nearly white. Length, 6.80; wing, 3.30; tail, 3.50.

Hab. Head-waters of Platte and middle region of United States to Fort Tejon and to Fort Crook, California.

This species is readily distinguished from P. iliaca by the slaty back and spots on the breast, the absence of streaks above, and the longer claws. From townsendi it differs in having the head, back, sides, and spots beneath slate-colored, instead of dark reddish-brown. The spotting beneath is much more sparse, the spots smaller, more triangular, and confined to the terminal portion of the feathers, instead of frequently involving the entire outer edge. The axillars are paler. The wings and tail are the same in both species.

The young bird is quite similar; but the spots beneath are badly defined, more numerous, and longitudinal rather than triangular.

There can be little doubt, however, that this bird is a geographical race of P. townsendi.

Habits. For all that we know in regard to the habits and general distribution of this species, we are indebted to the observations of Mr. Ridgway, who met with it while accompanying Mr. Clarence King’s geological survey. It was first obtained in July, 1856, by Lieutenant F. T. Bryan, on the Platte River, and others were afterwards collected at Fort Tejon by Mr. Xantus.

Mr. Ridgway found the Slate-colored Sparrow at Carson City, during its spring migrations northward, in the early part of March. At this time it was seen only among the willows along the Carson River, and was by no means common. It had the habit of scratching among the dead leaves, on the ground in the thickets, precisely after the manner of the eastern P. iliaca. In the following September he again found it among the thickets in the Upper Humboldt Valley. In Parley’s Park, among the Wahsatch Mountains, he found it a very plentiful species in June, nesting among the willows and other shrubbery along the streams. There it was always found in company with the M. fallax, which in song it greatly resembles, though its other notes are quite distinct, the ordinary one being a sharp chuck. The nest of the two species, he adds, were also so much alike in manner of construction and situation, and the eggs so similar, that it required a careful observation to identify a nest when one was found.

The eggs from one nest of the Passerella schistacea measure .90 by .70 of an inch, have a ground of a light mountain-green, and are profusely spotted with blotches of a rufous-brown, generally diffused over the entire egg.

Another nest of this species, obtained in Parley’s Park, in the Wahsatch Mountains, by Mr. Ridgway, June 23, 1869, was built in a clump of willows, about two feet from the ground. The nest is two inches in height, two and a half in diameter, cavity one and a half deep, with a diameter of two. It is composed externally of coarse decayed water-grass, is lined with fine hair and finer material like the outside. The eggs, four in number, are .80 by .67 of an inch, of a very rounded oval shape, the ground-color of a pale green, blotched and marked chiefly at the larger end with brown spots of a wine-colored hue.

Passerella townsendi, var. megarhynchus, Baird

THICK-BILLED SPARROW

Passerella schistacea, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, p. 490 (in part; Ft. Tejon specimens). Passerella megarhynchus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, p. 925 (Appendix).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 222. Passerella schistacea, var. megarhynchus, Ridgway, Rept. Geol. Expl. 40th Par.

13757 ♂

Sp. Char. Similar to var. schistacea in colors, size, and general proportions; but bill enormously thick, its depth being very much greater than the distance from nostril to tip, instead of much less; color of lower mandible rosy milk-white, instead of maize-yellow. Bill, .35 from nostril, .47 deep; wing, 3.30; tail, 3.50; tarsus, .83; middle toe without claw, .63; hind claw, .50.

Hab. Sierra Nevada, from Fort Tejon north to 40° latitude (Carson City, Nevada, breeding, Ridgway).

This very remarkable variety of P. townsendi is quite local in its distribution, having been observed only in the Sierra Nevada region, as above indicated. The first specimens were brought from Fort Tejon by Mr. J. Xantus, but at what season they were found there is not indicated on the labels. Recently, specimens were procured by Mr. Ridgway at Carson City, Nev., in April, they having arrived there about the 20th of April, frequenting the ravines of the Sierra near the snow. At the same place the var. schistacea was found earlier in the spring, but among the willows along the streams in the valleys, and not met with in the mountains; and all the individuals had passed northward before those of megarhynchus arrived.

In this restricted distribution the present bird is a companion of the Melospiza melodia, var. heermanni, and the characteristics of form are the same in both as compared with their Middle Province and Northern representatives; while they both differ from the latter (townsendi of Passerella, and rufina of Melospiza) in purer, lighter, and less brown colors.

Habits. Dr. Cooper met with several individuals of this bird towards the summits of the Sierra Nevada, in September, 1863, but was unable to preserve any of them. So far as he was able to observe them, they had no song, and their habits were generally similar to those of the P. townsendi.

The Thick-billed Sparrow was found by Mr. Ridgway as a very common bird among the alder swamps in the ravines of the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada during the summer. Near Carson City, April 25, in a swampy thicket near the streams in the level slopes, he heard, for the first time, its beautiful song, and killed a specimen in the midst of its utterance of what, he adds, was one of the most exquisitely rich utterances he ever heard. This song, he states, resembles, in richness and volume, that of the Louisiana Water Thrush (Seiurus ludovicianus), qualities in which that bird is hardly equalled by any other North American bird. They were singing in all parts of that swampy thicket, and up the ravines as far as the snow. From the nature of the place and the character of their song, they were at first supposed to be the Water Thrush, until specimens of these exquisite songsters were secured. He regards this bird as second to none of our singers belonging to this family and though in variety, sprightliness, and continuity, and also in passionate emotional character, its song is not equal to that of the Chondestes grammaca, yet it is far superior in power and richness of tone. Mr. Ridgway regards this bird as easily distinguishable from the P. schistacea, of which, however, it is only a variety. There is a total discrepancy in its notes, and while neither species is resident in the latitude of Carson City, through which both kinds pass in their migrations, the P. schistacea lingers in the spring only a short time, soon passing to the northward, while the P. megarhynchus arrives later and remains through the summer. The former makes its temporary abode among the willows along the river, while the latter breeds in the shrubbery of the mountain ravines.