Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-11-16
THE ENGLISH SPARROW.
A Descrtp ion or the Head OF the Bird
for Which the state Will Pay a
Bunny Ar err Dec L.

for which the state viii Pay q
Beun'y Afer Dec 4.
The state laboratory Of natural history
furnishes the following description of a
sparrow's head for which abounty of two
cents will be paid By the county clerks as
heretofore described, after Dec. to every
person who kills one:
The head of the English sparrow may
best be told, off hand, by its heavy, square
look, its very thick. regularly conical bull
its brown general color. without fine
streaks. but either varied by black
throat and large chestnut patch on each
side (male) or else Tin the female) with
tue throat paler than the rest of,the head
and with dull buffy stripe running back :
wards from the eye, and with no chest
nut at the sides. 1t never shows any
yellow or any white excepting narrow
line above the eye Of the male.
More particularly, the head is thick and
heavy, forming with the thick conical bill
a fairly regular pyramid, the top of the
head. slightly arched in all directions and
the sides considerably fiattered 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 q thick symmetrical cone
with the upper and lower lines slightly
archeG (the upper one the more SOY, the
sides little flattened and nearly straight,
and the tip rather sharp. Its
width at the base. across the corners of
the mouth, is nearly one third of an inch
a tritie greater than its depth (from
above DOWN. ards) and almost exactly
equal to the length of the under side of
the bill measured from the middle of the
arch at its base TO the tip of the lower
jaw. Tue nostrils are at the very base
of the upper part of the bill and are. in
fact, nearly concealed by few small
bristly feathers. In color The bill is very
commonly darker above than benea,hs
the upper half being dusky except at tie
corners of the mouth, where il is usually
pale or yellowish; and the lower half be-
ing pale, varying from yellowish behind
to blush white at the tip. Occssionly,
however. 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 incb) is equal TO the distance
from the nostrll 10 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 highest 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 light line running
backward through the middle of it, and
may be more or less generally mixed with
gray. There is black patch surround
ing the eye and extending to the bill, and
usually srching upwards over the base of
the latter as narrow black linz. A
black patch on the throat, usually more
or less mixed wi 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, between the chestnut
patch and the black throat. is dusky
gray, approaching Maltese"
In the female. on the other hand, the
lighter thar the top, the buffy stripe be-
hind the eye is bordered below by a
darker color, ard the throat is pale, us
ually some shade of duskY gray. both
throat and top of head being without
noticeable stresks:
From all birds except those of The
sparrow or finch fsmily this bird may be
distinguished by the regularly conicsl
form of the bill; and from birds with sim.
liar bill occurring in the winter months,
it may be further distinguished by tie
following negative characters:
The top of the head is never russell or
chestnut or red brown. and is never dis
tinctly streaked. or marked by any sort
of central stripe. The head never
shows anywhere any red or any shade OF
| vel ow. 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
| moro or LOGS hack