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.