Color Key to North American Birds Part 68

[Ill.u.s.tration: 707a.]

=707a. Palmer Thrasher= (_T. c. palmeri_). Similar to No. 707, but wing-bars less evident; outer tail-feathers _without_ white tips.

Range.--"Southern Arizona, from about fifty miles northwest of Phoenix, south to Guaymas, Sonora." (A.O.U.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 708.]

=708. Bendire Thrasher= (_Toxostoma bendirei_). L. 10.2. _Ads._ Above brownish ashy; below soiled whitish washed with buffy and lightly spotted with dusky, chiefly on breast; outer tail-feathers narrowly tipped with whitish. _Notes._ Call, _tirup_, _tirup_, _tirup_.

(Brown.)

Range.--Desert regions of southern Arizona south into Sonora, Mexico; west rarely to southeastern California; resident except at extreme northern limit of its range.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 709.]

=709. St. Lucas Thrasher= (_Toxostoma cinereum_). L. 10. _Ads._ Above grayish brown; below white with numerous wedge-shaped spots; outer tail-feathers tipped with white.

Range.--Southern Lower California.

=709a. Mearns Thrasher= (_T. c. mearnsi_). Differs from No. 709 in much darker upperparts, more rusty flanks and crissum, much larger and more intensely black spots on lower parts and less curved bill.

(Anthony.)

Range.--Northern Lower California, south to about Lat. 30 30'.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 710.]

=710. Californian Thrasher= (_Toxostoma redivivum_). L. 12. _Ads._ Above grayish brown; belly distinctly buff; breast grayish, throat whitish, washed with buff; no white in wings or tail. _Notes._ Song suggesting both that of the Brown Thrasher and the Mockingbird.

Range.--California west of the Sierra Nevada, north of about Lat. 35; south into Lower California.

=710a. Pasadena Thrasher= (_T. r. pasadenense_). Similar to No. 710, but grayer above; belly paler, throat whiter.

Range.--Southern California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 711.]

=711. Leconte Thrasher= (_Toxostoma lecontei_). L. 10.5. _Ads._ Above brownish ashy, below creamy white, under tail-coverts buff. _Notes._ Call, a sharply reiterated _whit_ or _quit_; song, remarkable for its loud rich tone; can be heard distinctly for more than a mile.

(Mearns.) Call, low and musical, _huee-e_, whistled through the teeth.

(Stephens.)

Range.--"Desert region of southern California, Nevada, and extreme southwestern Utah, from Benton, Cal. (Lat. 38), southeastward through Arizona to Sonora (Lat. 30). Local in San Joaquin Valley." (A.O.U.)

=711a. Desert Thrasher= (_T. l. arenicola_). Differing from No. 711 in having upperparts darker and grayer, tail blacker, and breast gray.

(Anthony.)

Range.--Northern Lower California. (Rosalia Bay.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 712.]

=712. Crissal Thrasher= (_Toxostoma crissalis_). L. 12. _Ads._ Under tail-coverts reddish _chestnut_; upperparts brownish gray; underparts ashy, chin white. _Notes._ No loud call note; song of remarkable scope and sweetness. (Mearns.)

Range.--"Southwestern United States, from western Texas to the Colorado Desert, California, and northern Lower California; north to Charleston Mountains, Nevada, and St. George, Utah." (A.O.U.)

Perching Birds Chiefly Brown or Streaked

[Ill.u.s.tration: 538.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 538. Winter.]

=538. Chestnut-collared Longspur= (_Calcarius ornatus_). L. 6.2. Hind toe-nail as long as toe; all but middle pair of tail-feathers (and sometimes these) with white, _two_ outer pairs white _to the tip_.

_Ad._ [Male]. Throat and cheeks buff; breast and belly black; crown black, nape chestnut; lesser wing-coverts black tipped with white.

_Ad._ [Female]. Above grayish brown streaked with black; below pale buff. [Male] _in winter_. Like summer [Male] but black and chestnut areas more or less tipped with grayish brown. _Notes._ Song, short, shrill, but very sweet, often uttered on the wing. (Allen.)

Range.--Great Plains: breeds from central Kansas and eastern Colorado north to the Saskatchewan; winters from eastern Colorado and Nebraska south into Mexico.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 539.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 539. Winter.]

=539. McCown Longspur= (_Rhynchophanes mccownii_). L. 6. Hind toe-nail as long as toe; all but middle pair of tail-feathers with white, the outer _one_ white _to the tip_, the others tipped with black; lesser wing-coverts _chestnut_. _Ad._ [Male]. Throat and belly white, breast and crown black; back grayish brown streaked with black. _Ad._ [Female]. Below white washed with brownish; above grayish brown streaked with black. [Male] _in winter_. Like [Female] but a partly concealed black breast patch; tail with more white. _Notes._ Call, a _chip_ at each stroke of the wing; song, of soft, twittering, pleasing notes. (Goss.) "A twittering, hurried chant, suggestive of the Horned Lark's performance, but terminating in decreasing power." (Silloway.)

Range.--Great Plains; breeds from northwestern Kansas to Montana and the Saskatchewan; winters from eastern Colorado and Kansas south into Mexico.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 552.]

=552. Lark Sparrow= (_Chondestes grammacus_). L. 6.2; _Ads._ Sides of the crown and ear-coverts chestnut; all but middle tail-feathers tipped with white; back broadly streaked with black; sides of throat and spot on breast black. _Notes._ Song, loud and musical suggesting both a Song Sparrow's and a Canary's.

Range.--Interior of North America from the Plains east to Illinois; casually east of the Alleghanies; breeds from Texas to Manitoba; winters south into Mexico.

=552a. Western Lark Sparrow= (_C. g. strigatus_). Similar to No. 552, but streaks on upperparts generally narrower.

Range.--Western United States from the Plains to Pacific; breeds from Mexico to Manitoba and British Columbia; winters south to Central America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 536.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 536. Winter.]

=536. Lapland Longspur= (_Calcarius lapponicus_). L. 6.2 Hind toe-nail as long as or longer than toe; two outer tail-feathers with white _at the end_. _Ad._ [Male], _summer_. Nape chestnut; crown, cheeks, throat and upper-breast black; back black margined with _rusty brown_. _Ad._ [Female], summer. Crown and back black margined with rusty; nape brighter; below whitish; breast feathers dusky at base; sides streaked with blackish. _Winter_, [Male]. Black areas and nape veiled with whitish or buffy tips; [Female], like [Female] in summer.

Range.--Breeds in northern Europe and northeast North America south to northern Labrador; in America, winters south, irregularly, to South Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Texas; west to Manitoba. (Ridgw.)

=536a. Alaskan Longspur= (_C. l. alascensis_). Similar to No. 536, but margins to back feathers much paler, brownish gray or buffy; nape in winter more buffy. _Notes._ Song, uttered on wing as bird with up-stretched wings floats downward, sweet, liquid, tinkling, of same general character as that of Bobolink, but shorter, less powerful.

(Nelson.)