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.