I ILLINOIS Production Note Digital Rare Book Collections Rare Book & Manuscript Library University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign 201 9 IO, )4 SPECIAL BULLETIN OF THE ILLINOIS 8mm; LABORATORY OF NATURAL HISTORY. .CHAMPAIGN, ILL. ‘- THE HEAD OF THE ENGLISH SPARROW ; BY 8. A. FORBES, DIRECTOR OF LABORATORY. THE H. W. ROKKER PRINTING HOUSE. \ I I SPRINGFIELD; f 1891. I SPECIAL BULLETIN 01“ THE ILLINOIS 8mm: LABORATORY 01“ NATURAL HISTORY. CHAMPAIGN, ILL. THE HEAD OF THE ENGLISH SPARROW BY S. A. FORBES, DIRECTOR OF LABORATO R Y. SPRINGFIELD: @1114: H. w. ROKKER PRINTING HOUSE. 1891. FEMA LE. THE HEAD OF THE ENGLISH SPARRO‘V. ILLINOIS STATE LABORATORY NATURAL HISTORY THE HEAD OF THE ENGLISH SPARROW. By a law “ploviding f01 the payment of bounties f01 killino E1101ish spa110ws”passed by the Thilty- seventh Genelal Assembly of Illinois, it is made the duty of the Director of the State Laboratory of Natural History to prepare a bulletin of information to en— able clerks of counties, townships, Villages, and cities, in this State, to distinguish the heads of English sparrows from those of other birds; and it is made the duty of such clerks to preserve as evidence to be used in a prosecution for Illisdemeanor the heads of any other birds presented to them by per- sons applying for the bounty. The fact that the descriptive bulletin called for by this law thus becomes liable to use as legal evidence in :1 prosevntiml lending to zL considerable fine, has made it seem necese sm'y that the description publiehed Should be very precise and full, more so, in fact, than would be needl‘ul for any 01'(,li11a1‘ypu1'- pose. lhave («memuently given in the firSt paragrapl]. Of the matter following a com— 1mratively general description, intended to satiety the i1’1epe010r’8 judgment in any onli- nal‘y case, and have made the remainder suffi— ciently vritical and C0111Dl‘ellel’lSl\'¢-‘, it is hoped, to help to a decision of more difficult or important cases. I have further endeavored to guard against possible error by ln'inging the sparrows head into comparison with heads of other birds at all likely to be mistaken for it, tak- ing into account in selecting species for such conn’mrison the fact that only such birds need be contrasted as are to be found in some part Of Illinois (luring the months of Decem— ber, January, lfilebli'uary. and March. The aceonlpanylug figures will no doubt be a valuable aid to the reeognition 0f sparrow heads, but they must be used with a certain discretion, ass the colors of the head vary greatly in both area and pattern; and in eases 0f nothiealhle (lifi'erenee the detailed description should be (-me‘fully applied. 7 Even that description, although drawn up from a, comparison of a large number of heads, will be found to answer imperfectly to here and there a epechnen; but this must he said Of every full description ever made 01‘ possible of any natural group of animals. The individuals of a species vary indefinitely around EL (30111111011 center 01’ average (f11EL1'EL("— ters, andexperienee only will enable one to avoid occasional errors of judgment. I)ES(\‘I{IP’1‘[()N. The head of the English sparrow may best be told, Off-ha.11d,by its heavy, square look, its very thick, regularly 001110311 bill, its brown general (30101“, without fine streaks, but either varied by a black throat and at large chest— nut patch on each side (male). 01' else (in the female) with the throat paler than the rest of the head and with a dull buffy stI'-i]f)e running b&ClUV‘dFdS from the eye, and with 110 chestnut at the sides. It never shown any yellow, 01" any white excepting :1, narrow line above the eye of the male. More particularly, the head is thick 1111111 heavy, forming with the thick 0011116111 bill a fairly regular }’)yran’1id, the top of the head slightly arched in all directions and the Sides 8 considerably flattened. Its greatest breadth with the feathers pressed Close is about three fourths of an inch, and its greatest depth (from the top to the under side) very nearly the same as the breadth; while its greatest length from the tip of the bill to the back of the skull is nearly twice as much. The bill is a thick symmetrical cone, with the upper and lower- lines slightly arched (the uppef one the more so), the sides a little flat— tened and nearly straight, and the tip rather sharp. Its width at the base, across the corners of the mouth, is very nearly one third of an inch, a trifle greater than its depth (from above downwards) and almost exactly equal to the length of the under side of the hill measured from the middle of the arch at its base to the tip of the lower jaw." The nostrils are at the very base of the upper part of the bill and are, in fact, nearly con- cealed by a few small bristly feathers. In color the bill is very commonly darker above than beneath, the upper half being dusky eX- Cept at the corners of the month, where it is usually pale or yellowish; and the lower * A pair of fine-pointed dividers and a finely graduated rule will be indispensable to any accurate use of these dis: tinctions. These are the only instruments QQQQQQ m7 tbs). in; Lspectors of sparrows’ heads; ' ' 9 half being pale, varying from yellowish be- hind t0 bluish white at the tip. Occasionally, however, a Specimen Will be found with the bill wholly black, and much more frequently one with the bill wholly pale. The length of the upper line of the beak (one half inch) is. equal to the distance from the nostril t0 the hind angle of the eye. In the male the top of the head may vary from plain ashy gray or drab to an ashy brown, the color being lightest in front. The chestnut patch upon the side of the head extends backward from the eye, becoming broader to the rear, and is often divided by a light line running backward through the middle of it, and may be more 01" less gen— erally mixed with gray. There is a black patch surrounding the eye and extending to the bill, and usually arching upwards over the base of the latter as a narrow black line. A black patch on the throat, usually more 01' less mixed with gray, extends from the beak backwards to the breast; and there is commonly an irregular White line above the eye, where one would look for an eyebrow. The side of the head and neck below the eye, 10 between the chestnut patch and the black threat, is a dusky gray, approaching “Mal- tese?’ In the female, on the other hand, the side of the head below the eye is but little lighter than the top, the buffy stripe behind the eye is bordered below by a, darker color, and the throat is pale, usually some shade of dusky gray, both throat and top of head being Without noticeable streaks. From all birds except those of the sparrow 0r finch family this bird may be distinguish- ed by the regularly conical form of the bill; and from birds With similar bill occurring; in the Winter months, it may be further dis- tinguished by the following negative Charac- ters: The top of the head is never russet or chestnut or red-brown, and is never distinct- ]y streaked, or marked by any sort of a cen- tral stripe. The head never shows anywhere any red or any shade of yellow, the throat and neck are never streaked With darker, and when the sides of the head and neck are marked With chestnut patches, the throat is always more or less black. S. A. FORBES, Director of Laboratory.