Medium-sized, round-tailed sparrow. Sexes similar in coloration, but males slightly larger than females. In adults, crown rusty; remaining upperparts grayish-brown, often streaked with rusty; supercilium gray; ear-coverts dark; distinct black malar stripe; prominent eye-ring; and unmarked grayish or buffy-gray underparts. Plumage of juveniles similar to that of adults, but crown dull brown and faintly streaked with darker brown; upperparts narrowly streaked with dark brown; underparts pale buff, narrowly streaked with dusky brown on breast and flanks; and malar stripe indistinct.

References cited in Species Profile

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• Burridge, B. 1995. Sonoma county breeding bird atlas: detailed maps and accounts for our local nesting birds. Madrone Audubon Soc. Sebastopol, CA.
• Collins, P. W. 1999a. Species account on Rufous-crowned Sparrow (Aimophila ruficeps).Pages 99-150 in Distribution and habitat associations of six bird species of special concern at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Santa Barbara County, California. (Holmgren, M. A. and P. W. Collins, Eds.) Santa Barbara Mus. Nat. Hist. Monogr. no. 1. Stud. Biodiversity no. 1.
• Collins, Paul W. 1999b. Rufous-crowned Sparrow (Aimophila ruficeps), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/472
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• Phillips, A. R. 1968a. Aimophila ruficeps eremoeca (Brown) Rock Rufous-crowned Sparrow. Pages 919-923 in Life histories of North American cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings, towhees, finches, sparrows, and allies. (Austin, Jr., O. L., Ed.) U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 237.
• Phillips, A. R. 1968b. Aimophila ruficeps scottii (Sennett) Scott's Rufous-crowned Sparrow.Pages 923-930 in Life histories of North American cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings, towhees, finches, sparrows, and allies. (Austin, Jr., O. L., Ed.) U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 237.
• Pulich, W. M. 1988. The birds of north central Texas. Texas A & M Univ. Press, College Station.
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• Wolf, L. L. 1977. Species relationships in the avian genus Aimophila. Ornithol. Monogr. 23 and supplement.