Buntings and New World Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Thick-billed Fox-sparrow (Passerella megarhyncha) - HBW 16, p. 540

French: Bruant à bec épais German: Dickschnabelammer Spanish: Chingolo Picogrueso
Other common names: Large-billed Fox-sparrow

Taxonomy: Passerella megarhynchus S. F. Baird, 1858, Fort Tejon, Kern County, California, USA.
Genus sometimes subsumed in Zonotrichia. This species and P. iliaca, P. schistacea and P. unalaschcensis are often treated as conspecific. Some molecular data suggest that P. arborea may be sister-taxon of these four. Geographical variation very slight; species sometimes treated as monotypic. Proposed race mariposae (described from Yosemite Park, in California) included within nominate. Race fulva of P. schistacea sometimes included in present species. Four subspecies tentatively recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

megarhyncha S. F. Baird, 1858 - breeds W USA from extreme SW Oregon S to CN California (including Sierra Nevada); non-breeding in C & S California S to extreme NW Mexico (NW Baja California).
brevicauda Mailliard, 1918 - breeds in interior N coast ranges of California S to Colusa County; non-breeding C & S coastal California.
monoensis Grinnell & Storer, 1917 - breeds on E slope of Sierra Nevada (in EC California); non-breeding in C interior and S coastal California, and NW Baja California.
stephensi Anthony, 1895 - breeds in S Sierra Nevada (in S California); non-breeding at lower elevations in S California.