Adults in summer with the crown face, and throat black; in winter with the black areas mottled with gray.
This species is one of the largest of the Sparrows. It is found abundantly on the prairies during migrations, but about nesting time they all seem to disappear and no one has, as yet, been able to locate their exact breeding range. It is supposed to be among some of the foothills of North Dakota and northward through Manitoba and Saskatchewan, as they have been found during the summer in all these localities. Nests supposed to belong to this species have been found, but they lack positive identification.
Song.—A series of musical, piping whistles.
Nest.—Supposed to be of grass and bark, a few inches above the ground in weed stalks or small shrubs; eggs whitish, thickly spotted with brown (.95 × .65).
Range.—Interior U. S. from Texas (in winter) north through the Plains and Mississippi to Manitoba.
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW
554. Zonotrichia leucophrys. 7 inches
Adults with a white crown bordered by black, the black covering the lores or space before the eye (the sub-species found west of the Rockies have the lores white).
We know these birds in the U. S., except in mountain ranges or in the extreme northern parts, only as migrants, they then being found in brushy woodlots or along roadsides. In the north they are found in deeply wooded ravines and on side hills. While with us they rarely if ever sing, but in their summer home they have a clear tinkling song like that of the [White-throated Sparrow], with which we see them associated here.