 It is currently classified as a "subspecies group" within the fox sparrow, pending wider-spread acceptance of its species status.These birds were long considered members of the slate-colored fox sparrow group due to morphological characteristics (Swarth 1920), but according to mtDNA cytochrome "b" sequence and haplotype data (Zink 1994), it forms a recognizable clade.Research on suspected (Rising & Beadle 1996) hybridization and considering additional DNA sequence data led to confirmation of their distinctiveness (Zink & Kessen 1999); this group appears to be most closely related to the sooty and/or slate-colored fox sparrows.