The most recent “Birding” Nov. 2019, p. 50, has an article, “Checklist
Redux-2019", describing and explaining recent changes to the ABA Checklist. I
will not review the article, which is informative and interesting. There are
shifted order of species within lists, and one is the list of North American
sparrows. Species are Listed according to relationships. A total of 45
sparrows are listed. Song Sparrow, Lincoln, and Swamp are 36, 37, and 38,
respectedly. The Fox Sparrow has a history of generic instability, but it has
always been listed close to the Melospiza (Song Sparrow group). There is no
mention of the generic change of Fox Sparrow from Passerella, yet it got
sandwiched beween two species of Spizella. The Fox Sparrow can’t possibly fit
into the suit of a Spizella, to say the least. If this is not a mistake, what
were they thinking?
Larry
