Robert Zink's paper on Fox Sparrows is in the Feb. 1994 issue of Evolution,
which just arrived locally. Zink uses mitochondrial DNA to show that there are
four genetic groups of Fox Sparrow, which he recognizes as phylogenetic
species: Rusty (Red) Fox Sparrow (illiaca group, northern); Sooty Fox Sparrow
(unalaskensis group, coastal Alaska); Slaty Fox Sparrow (schistacea group,
Cordilleran); and Large-billed Fox Sparrow (megarhyncha, Cascade/Sierras). The
four groups apparently don't intergrade extensively (there seem to be habitat
barriers where ever they make contact) but distribution of DNA variants
suggests that they do hybridize fairly often.

The current AOU Check-list Committee is probably more inclined to follow
Zink's recommendation, so a split here is a possibility, now that his study is
published.

Paul DeBenedictis
SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse