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Genus SPIZELLA, Bonap

Spizella, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List, 1838. (Type, Fringilla canadensis, Lath.)

Spinites, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 133. (Type, Fringilla socialis, Wils.)

Spizella monticola.

871 ♂

Gen. Char. Bill conical, the outlines slightly curved; the lower mandible decidedly larger than the upper; the commissure gently sinuated; the roof of the mouth not knobbed. Feet slender; tarsus rather longer than the middle toe; the hinder toe a little longer than the outer lateral, which slightly exceeds the inner; the outer claw reaching the base of the middle one, and half as long as its toe. Claws moderately curved. Tertiaries and secondaries nearly equal; wing somewhat pointed, reaching not quite to the middle of the tail. First quill a little shorter than the second and equal to the fifth; third longest. Tail rather long, moderately forked, and divaricated at the tip; the feathers rather narrow. Back streaked; rump and beneath immaculate. Young streaked beneath.

This genus differs from Zonotrichia principally in the smaller size and longer and forked, instead of rounded tail.

Birds of the year of this genus are very difficult to distinguish, even by size, except in monticola. The more immature birds are also very closely related. In these the entire absence of streaks on a plumbeous head point to atrigularis; the same character in a reddish cap, and a reddish upper mandible to pusilla; a dusky loral spot with dark streaks and generally a rufous shade on top of head, to socialis. S. breweri, with a streaked head, lacks the dusky lore and chestnut shade of feathers. S. pallida generally has a median light stripe in the cap, and a dusky mandibular line.

Common Characters. Interscapular region with black streaks. Rump and lower parts without streaks (except in young). Wing with two narrow light bands (indistinct in atrigularis).

A. Crown different from the sides of the head, a plain light superciliary stripe. Young with crown and breast streaked.

a. Crown rufous and plain in adult; in young, grayish and with streaks.

I. Streak behind eye, and tinge on side of breast, rufous. Egg pale blue, or bluish-white, blotched with pale brown, or sprinkled with reddish

1. S. monticola. Crown bright rufous, undivided medially; a dusky spot on lore; wing-bands sharply defined, pure white. A black spot on breast; jugulum tinged with ashy. Bill black above, yellow below. Length, 6.25; wing, 3.00. Hab. Whole of North America; north of the United States only, in summer.

2. S. pusilla. Crown dull rufous, indistinctly divided medially; lores entirely whitish; wing-bands not sharply defined, pale brown. No black spot on breast; jugulum tinged with buff. Bill entirely light brownish-red.

Wing, 2.70; tail, 2.80; bill, from forehead, .37. Hab. Eastern Province United States … var. pusilla.

“Similar, but colors clearer, and bill more robust.” Hab. Peten, Guatemala … var. pinetorum.1

II. Streak behind the eye blackish. No rufous tinge on side of breast. Egg deep blue, with black dots and streaks round larger end

3. S. socialis. Crown bright rufous, not distinctly divided, generally plain. Forehead black, divided medially with white. Streak of black on lore and behind eye. Rump pure bluish-ash. Bill blackish, lower mandible paler.

Auriculars deep ash, in strong contrast with pure white of the superciliary stripe and throat; breast without ashy tinge. Dorsal streaks broad. Wing, 2.80; tail, 2.30. Hab. Eastern Province of United States … var. socialis.

Auriculars lighter ash, less strongly contrasted with the white above and below; breast strongly tinged with ash. Dorsal streaks narrow. Wing, 3.00; tail, 2.90. Hab. Western Province of United States, and table-lands of Mexico … var. arizonæ.

b. Crown light grayish-brown, with distinct black streaks; young differing in streaked. Egg deep blue, with black streaks and dots (precisely as in socialis).

4. S. pallida.

Crown divided medially by a distinct pale stripe; whitish superciliary stripe, and blackish post-ocular streak sharply defined. A dusky sub-maxillary streak. Nape ashy in contrast with the crown and back. Wing, 2.50; tail, 2.40. Hab. Plains of United States, from the Saskatchewan southward … var. pallida.

Crown without a distinct median stripe. Markings on side of head not sharply defined. No dusky sub-maxillary stripe, and nape scarcely different from crown and back. Wing, 2.50; tail, 2.60. Hab. Middle and western Provinces … var. breweri.

B. Crown not different from the sides of head; no light superciliary stripe.

5. S. atrigularis. Head and neck all round, and rump, uniform dark ash, gradually fading into white on the abdomen; wing-bands indistinct; bill light brownish-red. Ad. Lores, chin, and upper part of throat black. Juv. without black about the head. (Eggs unknown.) Hab. Adjacent portions of Mexico and southern Middle Province of United States (Fort Whipple, Arizona, Coues; Cape St. Lucas, Xantus).

Spizella monticola, Baird

TREE SPARROW

Fringilla monticola, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 912. Zonotrichia monticola, Gray, Genera. Spinites monticolus, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 134. Spizella monticola, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 472.—Coues, P. A. N. S. 1861, 224 (Labrador).—Cooper & Suckley, 203 (Washington Ter.).—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 285.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 206.—Samuels, 317. Passer canadensis, Brisson, Orn. III, 1760, 102. Fringilla canadensis, Lath. Index, I, 1790, 434.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 511; V, 504, pl. clxxxviii.—Max. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 280. Emberiza canadensis, Sw. F. B. Am. II, 1831, 252.—Aud. Syn. 1839.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 83, pl. clxvi. Spizella canadensis, Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 480. Fringilla arborea, Wils. Am. Orn. II, 1810, 12, pl. xii, f. 3. Moineau du Canada, Buffon, Pl. Enl. 223, f. 2. “Mountain Finch,” Lath. Syn. II, I, 265.

Spizella monticola.

Sp. Char. Middle of back with the feathers dark brown centrally, then rufous, and edged with pale fulvous (sometimes with whitish). Hood and upper part of nape continuous chestnut; a line of the same from behind the eye, as well as a short maxillary stripe. Sides of head and neck ashy. A broad light superciliary band. Beneath whitish, tinged with fulvous; the throat with ashy; a small circular blotch of brownish in the middle of the upper part of the breast; the sides chestnut. Edges of tail-feathers, primary quills, and two bands across the tips of the secondaries, white. Tertiaries nearly black; edged externally with rufous, turning to white near the tips. Lower jaw yellow; upper black. Young bird streaked on throat and breast, as well as on crown. Length, 6.25 inches; wing, 3.00.

Hab. Eastern North America to the Missouri, north to Arctic Ocean; also on Pole Creek and Little Colorado River, New Mexico; Western Nevada.

This species varies in the amount of whitish edging to the quills and tail.

Habits. Essentially a northern bird, the Tree Sparrow breeds in high Arctic regions, only appearing in winter within the United States. It is then common as far south as Pennsylvania. A few winter in South Carolina.

It arrives on the Saskatchewan in the latter part of April, where it only makes a short halt, proceeding farther north to breed. Bischoff obtained a specimen at Sitka. Mr. Kennicott found its nest and eggs on the Yukon, and Mr. Dall obtained it at Nulato, and more sparingly below that point. Mr. MacFarlane met with it breeding in large numbers at Fort Anderson. The nests were in various situations, the larger proportion on the ground, a few in bushes near the ground, and only one is mentioned as having been several feet above it. One was in the cleft of a low willow on the edge of a small lake; another, in a bush, was nearly four feet from the ground; and a third was in a clump of willows and fourteen inches above the ground. Nearly all the other nests mentioned were built directly upon the ground.

The nests were constructed of dry bark and grasses, loosely put together, and very warmly lined with feathers. On the ground they were usually concealed in a tuft of grass. In all instances the female alone was found on the nests, the male being very rarely seen in their vicinity. The usual number of eggs in a nest was four or five, occasionally six, and even seven.

Dr. Suckley obtained a single specimen at Fort Dalles, and Dr. Cooper saw a flock in September, 1863, and again in 1864 at the mouth of the Columbia. Lieutenant Bryan met with them among the Rocky Mountains in latitude 39°, in August. Mr. Ridgway found them very common during the winter in the interior.

Dr. Coues found this Sparrow common in all the wooded districts of Labrador. It was very tame and unsuspicious, showing no fear even when closely approached. I have never met with any, in summer, in any part of New Brunswick or Nova Scotia.

This Sparrow is occasionally abundant in Massachusetts early in October, but rarely appears in full numbers until November. Some remain in the gardens in and about Boston during the winter, and during November the marshes of Fresh Pond are filled with them, when their wailing autumnal chant is in marked contrast with the sweet and sprightly song with which they enliven the spring, just before they are about to depart for their summer homes. They remain until the latter part of April, and Mr. Allen has observed them at Springfield till about the first of May.

In regard to their song, Mr. William Brewster informs me that they usually commence singing about the 25th of March. Their song is a loud, clear, and powerful chant, starting with two high notes, then falling rapidly, and ending with a low, sweet warble. He has heard a few singing with their full vigor in November and December, but this is rare.

Dr. Coues found them not common in South Carolina, but Dr. Kennerly states that they were quite abundant in December on the Little Colorado, in New Mexico, feeding on the fruit of the wild grape and upon seeds.

During the love-season the Tree Sparrow is quite a fine musician, its song resembling that of the Canary, but finer, sweeter, and not so loud. In their migrations, Mr. Audubon states, a flock of twenty or more will perch upon the same tree, and join in a delightful chorus. Their flight is elevated and graceful, and in waving undulations. On opening the stomachs of those he shot at the Magdeleine Islands, Mr. Audubon found them containing minute shell-fish, coleopterous insects, hard seeds, berries, and grains of sand.

Nests obtained near Fort Anderson confirm the descriptions given by Mr. Hutchins, as observed in the settlement at Hudson’s Bay. The eggs, which are much larger than those of the other species of Spizella, measure .85 by .65 of an inch. Their ground-color is a light green, over which the eggs are very generally freckled with minute markings of a foxy brown. These markings are distributed with great regularity, but so sparsely as to leave the ground distinctly visible.

Spizella pusilla, Bonap

FIELD SPARROW

Fringilla pusilla, Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 121, pl. xvi, f. 2.—Licht. Verzeich. Doubl. 1823, No. 252.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 299, pl. cxxxix. Spizella pusilla, Bonap. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 480.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 473.—Samuels, 319. Emberiza pusilla, Aud. Syn. 1839, 104.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 77, pl. clxiv. Spinites pusillus, Cab. Mus. Hein. 1851, 133. Fringilla juncorum, Nutt. Man. I, 1832, 499 (2d ed.,) 1840, 577 (supposed by him to be Motacilla juncorum, Gmelin, I, 952; Sylvia juncorum, Latham, Ind. II, 511; Little Brown Sparrow, Catesby, Car. I, 35).

Sp. Char. Bill red. Crown continuous rufous-red, with a faint indication of an ashy central stripe, and ashy nuchal collar. Back somewhat similar, with shaft-streaks of blackish. Sides of head and neck (including a superciliary stripe) ashy. Ear-coverts rufous. Beneath white, tinged with yellowish anteriorly. Tail-feathers and quills faintly edged with white. Two whitish bands across the wing-coverts. Autumnal specimens more rufous. Length about 5.75; wing, 2.34.

Hab. Eastern North America to the Missouri River; San Antonio, Texas in winter (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 489).

This species is about the size of S. socialis, but is more rufous above; lacks the black forehead and eye stripe; has chestnut ears, instead of ash; has the bill red, instead of black; lacks the clear ash of the rump; has a longer tail, etc. It is more like monticola, but is much smaller; lacks the spot on the breast, and the predominance of white on the wings, etc. The young have the breast and sides streaked, and the crown slightly so.

Habits. The common Field Sparrow occupies a well-defined and somewhat compact area, being resident within the United States, and in its migrations not removing far from its summer abode. In the summer it breeds from Virginia to Maine, as far as the central and western portions. It is not found near Calais, but occurs and breeds near Norway, Oxford County. In the interior it is found still farther north, in Canada, Iowa, and Wisconsin, to the Red River settlements, where it was found breeding by Donald Gunn. At Hamilton, Ontario, Mr. McIlwraith states it to be a rather rare summer resident. It breeds in Southern Wisconsin and in Iowa, but is not abundant. It does not appear to have been found west of the Missouri Valley.

This Sparrow arrives in Massachusetts early in April, and is found almost exclusively in open pastures, old fields, and in clearings remote from villages. It is a shy, retiring bird, and seems to avoid the near presence of man. Wilson states that it has no song, nothing but a kind of chirruping, not much superior to the chirping of a cricket. But this is quite a mistake, as it is in reality a very varied and fine singer. Its notes are not very powerful, and cannot be heard any distance, but they are very pleasing, although little known or appreciated. It continues in full song until into July, when the second brood is about hatching, when its notes relax, but do not cease until just before its departure in September or early October.

Mr. D. D. Hughes, of Grand Rapids, Mich., in an interesting paper on the habits of this species, speaks of its beautiful tinkling song as one of its most marked features. To his ear it resembles the ringing of a tiny bell more nearly than anything else. In the early morning and at evening the fields ring with their plaintive and tender peals. It sings at all hours of the day, during the nesting-season, even in the noonday heat of summer, when most other birds are silent.

In Virginia these birds may be found throughout the year, though probably not the same birds in the same localities, some retiring farther south and others coming to take their places from the north. In winter they are found, in the greatest abundance in South Carolina and Georgia, occurring in large loose flocks, found chiefly along the roadsides and in old fields and pastures in the rural districts.

The Field Sparrow nests both on the ground and in low bushes, or among tangled clusters of vines. I have found their nests in all these situations, and have no doubt the nature of the surface may have something to do with the position. In high dry pastures, in sheltered situations, I have always found their nests on the ground. In the wet meadows and fields subject to a rise of water, as about the Potomac, near Washington, where these birds are very abundant, they almost invariably nest in bushes at a height of two or three feet.

Mr. Audubon says that during the winter these birds are quite common throughout Louisiana, and the country about the Mississippi, as far as Kentucky. They begin to depart from the South early in March, and move slowly northward as the season advances. He states that they begin to nest in May, and raise three broods in a season. This is not the case in New England, where they do not often have more than a single brood.

PLATE XXVII.

1. Spizella socialis, Ad., Pa., 10150.

2. Spizella pusilla. ♀ Pa., 1378.

3. Spizella pallida. Ad.

4. Spizella breweri. Ad., Rocky Mts., 2890.

5. Spizella monticola.

6. Melospiza melodia,. Pa., 2637.

7. Melospiza samuelis. Cal., 7098.

8. Melospiza insignis. Kodiak, 52477.

9. Melospiza heermanni. ♂ Sierra Nevada, 53529.

10. Melospiza fallax. ♀ Nevada, 53537.

11. Melospiza rufina. Sitka, 46007.

12. Melospiza guttata. Washington Ter.

13. Melospiza lincolni. Pa., 937.

Their nests are constructed in a manner very similar to those of the Chipping Sparrow, loosely made of a few stems of vegetables, grasses, and sedges, and lined with hair or fine rootlets. Those placed on the ground are larger and more bulky, and those wrought into the twigs of a bush are made with more care and neatness of interweaving. The eggs are usually five in number, of an oblong-oval shape. The ground is a whitish clay-color, marked more or less fully with blotches of a ferruginous-brown. In some these markings are few, and arranged only about the larger end. In others they are generally diffused, and impart a deep ferruginous color to the whole egg, and disguise or conceal the ground. They vary also in size,—in length from .70 to .63 of an inch, and in breadth from .52 to .50. Their usual size is .70 by .52.

Two nests of this bird taken in Lynn, Mass., by Mr. George O. Welch, are characteristic of their usual style in architecture. One of these has a diameter of four and a height of two and a half inches. Its base, as well as the great mass of its periphery, is made of a very loose intertwining of minute stems of vegetables and dry grasses. The ends of these project from the exterior of the nest at the upper rim, and present a very peculiar appearance, as of an enclosure of palisades. The interior is lined with horsehair. The other is made of similar materials, of a less rigid character and closer texture. Its rim presents the same peculiarities of projecting ends, arranged like a fence above the nest itself. Its dimensions also are about the same. It is, however, much more compactly constructed, with thicker walls and a less open network of dry grasses, and stiff wiry stems of dried plants intermixed with a few pine leaves. The whole is very carefully and warmly lined with horsehair and the softer fur of small quadrupeds. These nests contained, one three, and the other four eggs.

Spizella socialis, Bonap

CHIPPING SPARROW; CHIPPY

Fringilla socialis, Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 127, pl. xvi, f. 5.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 21; V, 517, pl. civ. Spizella socialis, Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 480.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 473.—Cooper & Suckley, 203.—Samuels, 320. Emberiza socialis, Aud. Syn. 1839.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 80, pl. clxv. Spinites socialis, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 133.

Sp. Char. Rump, back of neck, and sides of neck and head, ashy. Interscapular region with black streaks, margined with pale rufous. Crown continuous and uniform chestnut. Forehead black, separated in the middle by white. A white streak over the eye to nape, and a black one from the base of the bill through and behind the eye. Lores dusky. Under parts unspotted whitish, tinged with ashy on the sides and across the upper breast. Tail-feathers and primaries edged with paler, not white. Two narrow white bands across the wing-coverts. Bill black. Length, 5.75; wing, nearly 3.00; tail, 2.50 (or less).

Young. Immature birds and frequently the adult females with the cap streaked with blackish lines, the chestnut nearly or sometimes quite wanting. Birds of the year streaked beneath and on rump.

The color of bill varies; sometimes entirely black throughout, sometimes very light (but never reddish as in S. pusilla), with all intermediate stages. There is usually, however, a dusky tinge in the upper bill, wanting in pusilla, and the lores are almost always more or less dusky in all stages of plumage.

Hab. Eastern Province of North America; north to Great Slave Lake, and south to Orizaba, Eastern Mexico, where it is resident. Oaxaca (perhaps var. arizonæ), Jan. (Scl. 858, 304); Xalapa (Scl. 1859, 365); Cordova (Scl. 1856, 305); Cuba (Lawr. 1860, VII., 1269).

Habits. The common Chipping Sparrow, so familiar to all in the eastern portion of the United States, is not only one of the most abundant, but one of the most widely distributed of our North American birds. It is found from the Atlantic to the Pacific in its two races, and breeds from Georgia to the Arctic Circle. At different seasons of the year it is found in all portions of North America to Mexico. Along the Atlantic coast it nests at least as far north as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; in the extreme northern portion of the latter Province I found it one of the most abundant birds.

The late Mr. Robert Kennicott met with them in considerable numbers at Fort Resolution, on Great Slave Lake, and there he obtained quite a number of their nests, all of which were in trees or bushes, from two to three feet above the ground. These were all met with between the 1st and the 26th of June. Mr. B. R Ross also met with these birds in considerable numbers at Fort Simpson and at Fort Rae.

On the Pacific coast the Chipping Sparrow is stated by Dr. Cooper to be quite as abundant in the northern parts of California, and in Oregon and Washington Territory, as on the Atlantic coast. He found them wintering in the Colorado Valley in large numbers, but met with none about San Diego. They spend their summers in the northern part of California, building their nests, as with us, in the shrubbery of the gardens, and coming familiarly about the doorsteps to pick up crumbs. In autumn they collect in large flocks, and frequent the open fields and pastures. Dr. Cooper found them in flocks on Catalina Island in June, but could discover no nests. They were all old birds, and the conclusion was that they had delayed their more northern migrations.

Dr. Suckley found this species extremely abundant in the open districts on the Columbia River, as well as upon the gravelly prairies of the Puget Sound district. It is not named as having been met with by Mr. Dall or any of the Russian Telegraph party in Alaska.

It was found in abundance during the summer by Mr. Ridgway in all the wooded portions of the country of the Great Basin. He did not meet with any among the cottonwoods of the river-valleys, its favorite haunts appearing to be the cedars and the nut-pines of the mountains. In July and August, in such localities, on the East Humboldt Mountains, it was not only the most numerous species, but also very abundant, nesting in the trees. About the middle of August they congregated in large numbers, preparing for their departure.

At Sacramento it was also very abundant among the groves of small oaks. He could not observe the slightest difference in habits or notes between the eastern and the western specimens of this form. He found them breeding at Salt Lake City, June 19, the nest being in a scrub-oak, six feet from the ground.

In Arizona, Dr. Coues found the Chippy a very abundant summer resident, arriving the third week of March and remaining until the latter part of November. A few may spend the winter there. As described, it seems more gregarious than it is with us, arriving in the spring, and remaining for a month or more in large flocks of fifty or upwards. In New England they always come in pairs, and only assemble in flocks just on the eve of their departure. Mr. Dresser met with these Sparrows, and obtained specimens of them, near San Antonio, on the 10th of April. Dr. Heermann, in his Report upon the birds observed in Lieutenant Williamson’s route between the 32d and 35th parallels, speaks of finding this species abundant.

Dr. Gerhardt found this Sparrow not uncommon in the northern portions of Georgia, where it is resident throughout the year, and where a few remain in the summer to breed. Dr. Coues also states that a limited number summer in the vicinity of Columbia, S. C., but that their number is insignificant compared with those wintering there between October and April. They collect in large flocks on their arrival, and remain in companies of hundreds or more.

Mr. Sumichrast states that it is a resident bird in the temperate region of Vera Cruz, Mexico, where it remains throughout the year, and breeds as freely and commonly as it does within the United States.

Although found throughout the country in greater or less numbers, they are noticeably not common in the more recent settlements of the West, as on the unsettled prairies of Illinois and Iowa. Mr. Allen found them quite rare in both States, excepting only about the older settlements. As early as the first week in April, 1868, I noticed these birds very common and familiar in the streets of St. Louis, especially so in the business part of that city, along the wharves and near the grain-stores, seeking their food on the ground with a confidence and fearlessness quite unusual to it in such situations.

The tameness and sociability of this bird surpass that of any of the birds I have ever met with in New England, and are only equalled by similar traits manifested by the Snowbird (J. hyemalis) in Pictou. Those that live about our dwellings in rural situations, and have been treated kindly, visit our doorsteps, and even enter the houses, with the greatest familiarity and trust. They will learn to distinguish their friends, alight at their feet, call for their accustomed food, and pick it up when thrown to them, without the slightest signs of fear. One pair which, summer after summer, had built their nest in a fir-tree near my door, became so accustomed to be fed that they would clamor for their food if they were any morning forgotten. One of these birds, the female, from coming down to the ground to be fed with crumbs, soon learned to take them on the flat branch of the fir near her nest, and at last to feed from my hand, and afterwards from that of other members of the family. Her mate, all the while, was comparatively shy and distrustful, and could not be induced to receive his food from us or to eat in our presence.

This Sparrow is also quite social, keeping on good terms and delighting to associate with other species. Since the introduction of the European House Sparrow into Boston, I have repeatedly noticed it associating with them in the most friendly relations, feeding with them, flying up with them when disturbed, and imitating all their movements.

The Chipping Sparrow has very slight claims to be regarded as one of our song-birds. Its note of complaint or uneasiness is a simple chip, and its song, at its best, is but a monotonous repetition of a single note, sounding like the rapid striking together of two small pebbles. In the bright days of June this unpretending ditty is kept up incessantly, hours at a time, with only rare intermissions.

The nest of this bird is always in trees or bushes. I have in no instance known of its being built on the ground. Even at the Arctic regions, where so many of our tree-builders vary from this custom to nest on the ground, no exceptional cases are reported in regard to it, all its nests being upon trees or in bushes. These are somewhat rudely built, often so loosely that they may readily be seen through. Externally they are made of coarse stems of grasses and vegetable branches, and lined with the hair of the larger animals.

These birds are devoted parents, and express great solicitude whenever their nests are approached or meddled with. They feed their young almost exclusively with the larvæ of insects, especially with young caterpillars. When in neighborhoods infested with the destructive canker-worm, they will feed their young with this pest in incredible numbers, and seek them from a considerable distance. Living in a district exempt from this scourge, yet but shortly removed from them, in the summer of 1869, I noticed one of these Sparrows with its mouth filled with something which inconvenienced it to carry. It alighted on the gravel walk to adjust its load, and passed on to its nest, leaving two canker-worms behind it, which, if not thus detected, would have introduced this nuisance into an orchard that had previously escaped, showing that though friends to those afflicted they are dangerous to their neighbors. This Sparrow is also the frequent nurse of the Cow Blackbird, rearing its young to the destruction of its own, and tending them with exemplary fidelity.

Their eggs, five in number, are of an oblong-oval shape, and vary greatly in size. They are of a bluish-green color, and are sparingly spotted about the larger end with markings of umber, purple, and dark blackish-brown, intermingled with lighter shadings of faint purple. The largest specimen I have ever noticed of this egg, found in the Capitol Grounds, Washington, measures .80 by .58 of an inch; and the smallest, from Varrell’s Station, Ga., measures .60 by .50. Their average measurement is about .70 by .54. They are all much pointed at the smaller end.

Spizella socialis, var. arizonæ, Coues

WESTERN CHIPPING SPARROW

Spizella socialis, var. arizonæ, Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 207.

Sp. Char. Similar to socialis, but tail and wing longer, the bill narrower, and colors paler and grayer. Rufous of the crown lighter and less purplish, generally (always in specimens from southern Rocky Mountains) with fine black streaks on the posterior part. Ash of the cheeks paler, throwing the white of the superciliary stripe and throat into less contrast. Black streaks of the back narrower, and without the rufous along their edges, merely streaking a plain light brownish-gray ground-color. A strong ashy shade over the breast, not seen in socialis; wing-bands more purely white. Wing, 3.00; tail, 2.80; bill, .36 from forehead, by .18 deep. (40,813 ♂, April 24, Fort Whipple, Ariz., Dr. Coues.)

Hab. Western United States from Rocky Mountains to the Pacific; south in winter into Middle and Western Mexico.

All the specimens of a large series from Fort Whipple, Arizona, as well as most others from west of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast, agree in the characters given above, as distinguished from eastern specimens of socialis. The variations with age and season are simple parallels of those in socialis.

Habits. The references in the preceding article to the Chipping Sparrow as occurring in the Middle and Western Provinces of the United States, are to be understood as applying to the present race.

Spizella pallida, Bonap

CLAY-COLORED SPARROW

Emberiza pallida, Sw. F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 251 (not of Audubon). Spizella pallida, Bonap. List, 1838.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 474. Spinites pallidus, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 133. Emberiza shattucki, Aud. Birds Am. VII, 1843, 347, pl. ccccxciii. Spizella shattucki, Bonap. Conspectus, 1850, 480.

Sp. Char. Smaller than S. socialis. Back and sides of hind neck ashy. Prevailing color above pale brownish-yellow, with a tinge of grayish. The feathers of back and crown streaked conspicuously with blackish. Crown with a median pale ashy and a lateral or superciliary ashy-white stripe. Beneath whitish, tinged with brown on the breast and sides, and an indistinct narrow brown streak on the edge of the chin, cutting off a light stripe above it. Ear-coverts brownish-yellow, margined above and below by dark brown, making three dark stripes on the face. Bill reddish, dusky towards tip. Legs yellow. Length, 4.75; wing, 2.55.

Hab. Upper Missouri River and high central plains to the Saskatchewan country. Cape St. Lucas, Oaxaca, March (Scl. 1859, 379); Fort Mohave (Cooper, P. A. N. S. Cal. 1861, 122); San Antonio, Texas, spring (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 489; common).

The ashy collar is quite conspicuous, and streaked above with brown. The rump is immaculate. The streaks on the feathers of the crown almost form continuous lines, about six in number. The brown line above the ear-coverts is a post-ocular one. That on the side of the chin forms the lower border of a white maxillary stripe which widens and curves around behind the ear-coverts, fading into the ashy of the neck. The wing-feathers are all margined with paler, and there is an indication of two light bands across the ends of the coverts.

The young of this species is thickly streaked beneath over the throat, breast, and belly, with brown, giving to it an entirely different appearance from the adult. The streaks in the upper parts, too, are darker and more conspicuous. The margins of the feathers are rather more rusty.

This species is readily distinguishable from the other American Spizellas, except S. breweri (which see), in the dark streaks and median ashy stripe on the crown, the paler tints, the dark line on the side of the chin, etc.

Habits. The Clay-colored Bunting was first discovered by Richardson, and described by Swainson, in the Fauna Bor.-Amer. The only statement made in regard to it is that it visited the Saskatchewan in considerable numbers, frequented the farm-yard at Carlton House, and was in all respects as familiar and confiding as the common House Sparrow of Europe.

The bird given by Mr. Audubon as the pallida has been made by Mr. Cassin a different species, S. breweri, and the species the former gives in his seventh volume of the Birds of America as Emberiza shattucki is really this species. It was found by Mr. Audubon’s party to the Yellowstone quite abundant throughout the country bordering upon the Upper Missouri. It seemed to be particularly partial to the small valleys found, here and there, along the numerous ravines running from the interior and between the hills. Its usual demeanor is said to greatly resemble that of the common Chipping Sparrow, and, like that bird, it has a very monotonous ditty, which it seems to delight to repeat constantly, while its mate is more usefully employed in the duties of incubation. When it was approached, it would dive and conceal itself amid the low bushes around, or would seek one of the large clusters of wild roses so abundant in that section. The nest of this species is mentioned as having been usually placed on a small horizontal branch seven or eight feet from the ground, and occasionally in the broken and hollow branches of trees. These nests are also stated to have been formed of slender grasses, but in so slight a manner as, with their circular lining of horse or cattle hair, to resemble as much as possible the nest of the common socialis. The eggs were five in number, and are described as being blue with reddish-brown spots. These birds were also met with at the Great Slave Lake region by Mr. Kennicott, in the same neighborhood by B. R. Ross and J. Lockhart, and in the Red River settlements by Mr. C. A. Hubbard and Mr. Donald Gunn.

Captain Blakiston noted the arrival of this bird at Fort Carlton on the 21st of May. He speaks of its note as very peculiar, resembling, though sharper than, the buzzing made by a fly in a paper box, or a faint imitation of the sound of a watchman’s rattle. This song it utters perched on some young tree or bush, sometimes only once, at others three or four times in quick succession.

Their nests appear to have been in all instances placed in trees or in shrubs, generally in small spruces, two or three feet from the ground. In one instance it was in a clump of small bushes not more than six inches from the ground, and only a few rods from the buildings of Fort Resolution.

Both this species and the S. breweri were found by Lieutenant Couch at Tamaulipas in March, 1855. It does not appear to have been met with by any other of the exploring expeditions, but in 1864, for the first time, as Dr. Heermann states, to his knowledge, these birds were found quite plentiful near San Antonio, Texas, by Mr. Dresser. This was in April, in the fields near that town. They were associating with the Melospiza lincolni and other Sparrows. They remained about San Antonio until the middle of May, after which none were observed.

The eggs of this species are of a light blue, with a slight tinge of greenish, and are marked around the larger end with spots and blotches of a purplish-brown, rather finer, perhaps, than in the egg of S. socialis, though very similar to it. They average .70 of an inch in length, and vary in breadth from .50 to .52 of an inch.

Spizella pallida, var. breweri, Cassin

BREWER’S SPARROW

Emberiza pallida, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 66, pl. cccxcviii, f. 2.—Ib. Synopsis, 1839.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 71, pl. clxi (not of Swainson, 1831). Spizella breweri, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. VIII, Feb. 1856, 40.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 475.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 209.

Sp. Char. Similar to S. pallida; the markings including the nuchal collar more obsolete; no distinct median and superciliary light stripes. The crown streaked with black. Some of the feathers on the sides with brown shafts. Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.50. Young streaked beneath, as in pallida.

Hab. Rocky Mountains of United States to the Pacific coast.

This race is very similar to the S. pallida, and requires close and critical comparison to separate it. The streaks on the back are narrower, and the central ashy and lateral whitish stripes of the crown are scarcely, if at all, appreciable. The clear unstreaked ash of the back of the neck, too, is mostly wanting. The feathers along the sides of the body, near the tibia, and occasionally elsewhere on the sides, have brownish shafts, not found in the other. The differences are perhaps those of race, rather than of species, though they are very appreciable.

Habits. This species bears a very close resemblance to the S. pallida in its external appearance, but there are certain constant differences which, with the peculiarities of their distinctive distributions and habits, seem to establish their specific separation. The present bird is found from the Pacific coast to the Rocky Mountains, and from the northern portion of California to the Rio Grande and Mexico. Dr. Kennerly found it in February, 1854, throughout New Mexico, from the Rio Grande to the Great Colorado, along the different streams, where it was feeding upon the seeds of several kinds of weeds.

Dr. Heermann, while accompanying the surveying party of Lieutenant Williamson, between the 32d. and 35th parallels, found these Sparrows throughout his entire route, both in California and in Texas. On the passage from the Pimos villages to Tucson he observed large flocks gleaning their food among the bushes as they were moving southward. In the Tejon valley, during the fall season, he was constantly meeting them associated with large flocks of other species of Sparrows, congregated around the cultivated fields of the Indians, where they find a bountiful supply of seeds. For this purpose they pass the greater part of the time upon the ground.

Dr. Woodhouse also met with this Sparrow throughout New Mexico, wherever food and water were to be found in sufficient quantity to sustain life.

In Arizona, near Fort Whipple, Dr. Coues states that this bird is a rare summer resident. He characterizes it as a shy, retiring species, keeping mostly in thick brush near the ground.

Mr. Ridgway states that he found this interesting little Sparrow, while abundant in all fertile portions, almost exclusively an inhabitant of open situations, such as fields or bushy plains, among the artemesia especially, where it is most numerous. It frequents alike the valleys and the mountains. At Sacramento it was the most abundant Sparrow, frequenting the old fields. In this respect it very much resembles the eastern Spizella pusilla, from which, however, it is in many respects very different.

The song of Brewer’s Sparrow, he adds, for sprightliness and vivacity is not excelled by any other of the North American Fringillidæ, being inferior only to that of the Chondestes grammaca in power and richness, and even excelling it in variety and compass. Its song, while possessing all the plaintiveness of tone so characteristic of the eastern Field Sparrow, unites to this quality a vivacity and variety fully equalling that of the finest Canary. This species is not resident, but arrives about the 9th of April. He found its nest and eggs in the Truckee Reservation, early in June. The nests were in sage-bushes about three feet from the ground.

Dr. Cooper found small flocks of this species at Fort Mohave, after March 20, frequenting grassy spots among the low bushes, and a month later they were singing, he adds, much like a Canary, but more faintly. They are presumed to remain in the valley all summer.

The eggs, four in number, are of a light bluish-green color, oblong in shape, more rounded at the smaller end than the eggs of the socialis, and the ground is more of a green than in those of S. pallida. They are marked and blotched in scattered markings of a golden-brown color. These blotches are larger and more conspicuous than in the eggs of the other species. They measure .70 by .51 of an inch.

Spizella atrigularis, Baird

BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW

Spinites atrigularis, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 133. Spizella atrigularis, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 476, pl. lv, f. 1.—Ib. Mex. Bound. II, Birds, p. 16, pl. xvii, f. 1.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 210. Struthus atrimentalis, Couch, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. VII, April, 1854, 67.

Sp. Char. Tail elongated, deeply forked and divaricated. General color bluish-ash, paler beneath, and turning to white on the middle of the belly. Interscapular region yellowish-rusty, streaked with black. Forehead, loral region, and side of head as far as eyes, chin, and upper part of throat black. Quills and tail-feathers very dark brown, edged with ashy. Edges of coverts like the back. No white bands on the wings. Bill red, feet dusky. Immature birds, and perhaps adult female, without any black on head. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.50; tail, 3.00.

Hab. Mexico, just south of the Rio Grande; Fort Whipple, Ariz. (Coues); Cape St. Lucas.

This species is about the size of S. pusilla and S. socialis, resembling the former most in its still longer tail. This is more deeply forked and divaricated, with broader feathers than in either. The wing is much rounded; the fourth quill longest; the first almost the shortest of the primaries.

Habits. This species is a Mexican bird, found only within the limits of the United States along the borders. But little is known as to its history. It is supposed to be neither very abundant nor to have an extended area of distribution. It was met with by Dr. Coues in the neighborhood of Fort Whipple, Arizona, where it arrives in April and leaves again in October, collecting, before its departure, in small flocks. In the spring he states that it has a very sweet and melodious song, far surpassing in power and melody the notes of any other of this genus that he has ever heard.

Dr. Coues furnishes me with the following additional information in regard to this species: “This is not a common bird at Fort Whipple, and was only observed from April to October. It unquestionably breeds in that vicinity, as I shot very young birds, in August, wanting the distinctive head-markings of the adult. A pair noticed in early April were seemingly about breeding, as the male was in full song, and showed, on dissection, highly developed sexual organs. The song is very agreeable, not in the least recalling the monotonous ditty of the Chip Bird, or the rather weak performances of some other species of the genus. In the latter part of summer and early autumn the birds were generally seen in small troops, perhaps families, in weedy places, associating with the western variety of Spizella socialis, as well as with Goldfinches.”

Lieutenant Couch met with individuals of this species at Agua Nueva, in Coahuila, Mexico, in May, 1853. They were found in small flocks among the mountains. Their nest and eggs are unknown.

Genus MELOSPIZA, Baird

Melospiza, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1868, 478. (Type, Fringilla melodia, Wils.)

Melospiza melodia.

2637 ♂

Gen. Char. Body stout. Bill conical, very obsoletely notched, or smooth; somewhat compressed. Lower mandible not so deep as the upper. Commissure nearly straight. Gonys a little curved. Feet stout, not stretching beyond the tail; tarsus a little longer than the middle toe; outer toe a little longer than the inner; its claw not quite reaching to the base of the middle one. Hind toe appreciably longer than the middle one. Wings quite short and rounded, scarcely reaching beyond the base of the tail; the tertials considerably longer than the secondaries; the quills considerably graduated; the fourth longest; the first not longer than the tertials, and almost the shortest of the primaries. Tail moderately long, rather longer from coccyx than the wings, and considerably graduated; the feathers oval at the tips, and not stiffened. Crown and back similar in color, and streaked; beneath thickly streaked, except in M. palustris. Tail immaculate. Usually nest on ground; nests strongly woven of grasses and fibrous stems; eggs marked with rusty-brown and purple on a ground of a clay color.

Melospiza melodia.

This genus differs from Zonotrichia in the shorter, more graduated tail, rather longer hind toe, much more rounded wing, which is shorter; the tertiaries longer; the first quill almost the shortest, and not longer than the tertials. The under parts are spotted; the crown streaked, and like the back.

There are few species of American birds that have caused more perplexity to the ornithologist than the group of which Melospiza melodia is the type. Spread over the whole of North America, and familiar to every one, we find each region to possess a special form (to which a specific name has been given), and yet these passing into each other by such insensible gradations as to render it quite impossible to define them as species. Between M. melodia of the Atlantic States and M. insignis of Kodiak the difference seems wide; but the connecting links in the intermediate regions bridge this over so completely that, with a series of hundreds of specimens before us, we abandon the attempt at specific separation, and unite into one no less than eight species previously recognized.

Taking, then, the common Song Sparrow of the Eastern Atlantic States (M. melodia) as the starting-point, and proceeding westward, we find quite a decided difference (in a variety fallax) when we reach the Middle Province, or that of the Rocky Mountains. The general tints are paler, grayer, and less rusty; the superciliary stripe anteriorly more ashy; the bill, and especially the legs, more dusky, the latter not at all to be called yellow. The bill is perhaps smaller and, though sometimes equal to the average of eastern specimens, more slender in proportion. In some specimens (typical fallax) the streaks are uniform rufous without darker centres,—a feature I have not noticed in eastern melodia. Another stage (heermanni) is seen when we reach the Pacific coast of California, in a darker brown color (but not rufous). Here the bill is rather larger than in var. fallax, and the legs colored more like typical melodia. In fact, the bird is like melodia, but darker. The stripes on the back continue well defined and distinct. M. samuelis (=gouldi) may stand as a smaller race of this variety.

Proceeding northward along the Pacific coast, another form (var. guttata), peculiar to the coast of California, is met with towards and beyond the mouth of the Columbia (coming into Southern California in winter). This is darker in color, more rufous; the stripes quite indistinct above, in fact, more or less obsolete, and none, either above or below, with darker or blackish centres. The sides, crissum, and tibia are washed with ochraceous-brown, the latter perhaps darkest. The bill is proportionally longer and more slender. This race becomes still darker northward, until at Sitka (var. rufina) it shows no rufous tints, but a dusky olive-brown instead, including the streaks of the under parts. The markings of the head and back are appreciable, though not distinct. The size has become considerably larger than in eastern melodia, the average length of wing being 3.00, instead of 2.60.

The last extreme of difference from typical melodia of the east is seen in the variety insignis from Kodiak. Here the size is very large: length, 7.00; extent, 10.75; wing, 3.20. The bill is very long (.73 from forehead), the color still darker brown and more uniform above; the median light stripe of vertex scarcely appreciable in some specimens; the superciliary scarcely showing, except as a whitish spot anteriorly. The bill and feet have become almost black.

The following synopsis may serve as a means by which to distinguish the several races of this species, as also the two remaining positive species of the genus:—

Species and Varieties

A. Lower parts streaked.

1. M. melodia. White of the lower parts uninterrupted from the chin to the crissum; the streaks of the jugulum, etc., broad and cuneate.

a. Streaks, above and below, sharply defined, and distinctly black medially (except sometimes in winter plumage).

Ground-color above reddish-gray, the interscapulars with the whitish and black streaks about equal, and sharply contrasted. Rump with reddish streaks. Wing, 2.70; tail, 2.90; bill .36 from nostril, and .30 deep. Hab. Eastern Province of United States, to the Plains on the west, and the Rio Grande on the south … var. melodia.2

Ground-color above ashy-gray, the interscapulars with the black streaks much broader than their rufous border, and the whitish edges not in strong contrast. Rump without streaks. Wing, 2.80; tail, 3.15; bill, .33 and .22. Hab. Middle Province of United States … var. fallax.3

Ground-color above nearly pure gray, the interscapulars with the black streaks much broader than the rufous, and the edges of the feathers not appreciably paler. Rump without streaks. Wing, 2.80; tail, 2.85; bill, .32 by .27. Hab. California, except along the coast; Sierra Nevada … var. heermanni.4

Ground-color above grayish-olive, the interscapulars with the black streaks much broader than their rufous border; edges of the feathers scarcely appreciably paler. Rump and tail-coverts, above and below, with distinct broad streaks of black. Wing, 2.40; tail, 2.50; bill, .37 and .24. Hab. Coast region of California … var. samuelis.5

Ground-color above olive-rufous, the edges of the interscapulars, alone, ashy; dorsal black streaks very broad, without rufous border. Rump streaked with black. Wing, 2.60; tail, 2.85; bill, .34 and .25. Hab. Puebla, Mexico … var. mexicana.6

b. Streaks, above and below, not sharply defined, and without black medially.

Above rufescent-olive, the darker shades castaneous; streaks beneath castaneous-rufous. Wing, 2.60; tail, 2.50; bill, .35 and .23. Hab. Pacific Province from British Columbia, southward … var. guttata.

Above sepia-plumbeous, the darker shades fuliginous-sepia; streaks beneath fuliginous-sepia. Wing, 3.00; tail, 3.00; bill, .41 and .25. Hab. Pacific Province from British Columbia northward … var. rufina.

Above plumbeous, the darker markings dull reddish-sepia in winter, clove-brown in summer; streaks beneath castaneous-rufous in winter, dull sepia in summer. Wing, 3.40; tail, 3.60; bill, .50 and .30. Hab. Pacific coast of Alaska (Kodiak, etc.) … var. insignis.

2. M. lincolni. White of the lower parts interrupted by a broad pectoral band of buff; streaks on the jugulum, etc., narrow linear. A vertex and superciliary stripe of ashy; a maxillary one of buff. Wing, 2.60; tail, 2.40; bill, .30 and .25. Hab. Whole of North America; south, in winter, to Panama.

B. Lower parts without streaks (except in young.)

3. M. palustris. Jugulum and nape tinged with ashy; outer surface of wings bright castaneous, in strong contrast with the olivaceous of the back; dorsal streaks broad, black, without rufous externally; a superciliary and maxillary stripe of ashy. ♂. Crown uniform chestnut, forehead black. ♀. Crown similar, but divided by an indistinct ashy stripe, and more or less streaked with black (autumnal or winter ♂ similar). Juv. Head, back, and jugulum streaked with black on a yellowish-white ground; black prevailing on the crown. Hab. Eastern Province of North America.

Melospiza melodia, Baird

SONG SPARROW

Fringilla melodia, Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 125, pl. xvi, f. 4.—Licht. Verz. 1823, No. 249.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 126; V, 507, pl. 25.—Ib. Syn. 1839, 120.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 147, pl. clxxxix.—Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 275. Zonotrichia melodia, Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 478. ? ? Fringilla fasciata, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 922.—Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 562. ? ? Fringilla hyemalis, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 922. Melospiza melodia, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 477.—Samuels, 321.

Sp. Char. General tint of upper parts rufous and distinctly streaked with rufous-brown, dark-brown, and ashy-gray. The crown is rufous, with a superciliary and median stripe of dull gray, the former lighter; nearly white anteriorly, where it sometimes has a faint shade of yellow, principally in autumn; each feather of the crown with a narrow streak of black forming about six narrow lines. Interscapulars black in the centre, then rufous, then pale grayish on the margin, these three colors on each feather very sharply contrasted. Rump grayer than upper tail-coverts, both with obsolete dark streaks. There is a whitish maxillary stripe, bordered above and below by one of dark rufous-brown, and with another from behind the eye. The under parts are white; the jugulum and sides of body streaked with clear dark-brown, sometimes with a rufous suffusion. On the middle of the breast these marks are rather aggregated so as to form a spot. No distinct white on tail or wings. Length of male, 6.50; wing, 2.58; tail, 3.00. Bill pale brown above; yellowish at base beneath. Legs yellowish.

Hab. Eastern United States to the high Central Plains.

Specimens vary somewhat in having the streaks across the breast more or less sparse, the spot more or less distinct. In autumn the colors are more blended, the light maxillary stripe tinged with yellowish, the edges of the dusky streaks strongly suffused with brownish-rufous.

The young bird has the upper parts paler, the streaks more distinct; the lines on the head scarcely appreciable. The under parts are yellowish; the streaks narrower and more sharply defined dark brown.

As already stated, this species varies more or less from the above description in different parts of North America, its typical races having received specific names, which it is necessary to retain for them as varieties.

Habits. The common Song Sparrow of eastern North America has an extended range of distribution, and is resident throughout the year in a large part of the area in which it breeds. It nests from about South Carolina north to the British Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at the east, and to a not well-defined limit in British America. The most northern points to which it has been traced are the plains of the Saskatchewan and the southern shore of Lake Winnepeg, in which latter place Mr. Kennicott found it breeding. It is said by Dr. Coues to breed in South Carolina, and by Mr. Audubon in Louisiana, but I have never seen any of their eggs from any point south of Washington. In winter it is found from Massachusetts, where only a few are observed, to Florida. It is most abundant at this period in North and South Carolina. It is not mentioned in Dr. Gerhardt’s list as being found in Northern Georgia at any season of the year. Mr. Ridgway informs me that it does not breed in Southern Illinois. Its song is not popularly known there, though he has occasionally heard it just before these Sparrows were leaving for the north. This species winters there in company with the Z. albicollis and Z. leucophrys, associating with the former, and inhabiting brush-heaps in the clearings.

To Massachusetts, where specimens have been taken in every month of the year, and where they have been heard to sing in January, they return in large numbers usually early in March, sometimes even in February. It is probable that these are but migrants, passing farther north, and that our summer visitants do not appear among us until the middle of April, or just as they are about to breed. They reach Maine from the 15th to the 25th, and breed there the middle of May. In Massachusetts they do not have eggs until the first week in May, except in very remarkable seasons, usually not until after the Bluebird has already hatched out her first brood, and a week later than the Robin.

The tide of returning emigration begins to set southward early in October. Collecting in small loose flocks, probably all of each group members of the same family, they slowly move towards the south. As one set passes on, another succeeds, until the latter part of November, when we no longer meet with flocks, but solitary individuals or groups of two or three. These are usually a larger and stouter race, and almost suggest a different species. They are often in song even into December. They apparently do not go far, and are the first to return. In early March they are in full song, and their notes seem louder, clearer, and more vibratory than those that come to us and remain to breed.

The Song Sparrow, as its name implies, is one of our most noted and conspicuous singers. It is at once our earliest and our latest, as also our most constant musician. Its song is somewhat brief, but is repeated at short intervals, almost throughout the days of spring and early summer. It somewhat resembles the opening notes of the Canary, and though less resonant and powerful, much surpasses them in sweetness and expression. Plain and homely as this bird is in its outward garb, its sweet song and its gentle confiding manners render it a welcome visitor to every garden, and around every rural home wherein such attractions can be appreciated. Whenever these birds are kindly treated they readily make friends, and are attracted to our doorsteps for the welcome crumbs that are thrown to them; and they will return, year after year, to the same locality, whenever thus encouraged.

The song of this Sparrow varies in different individuals, and often changes, in the same bird, in different parts of the year. It is even stated by an observing naturalist—Mr. Charles S. Paine, of Randolph, Vt.—that he has known the same bird to sing, in succession, nine entirely different sets of notes, usually uttering them one after the other, in the same order. This was noticed not merely once or during one season, but through three successive summers. The same bird returned each season to his grounds, and came each time provided with the same variety of airs.

Mr. Nuttall, who dwells with much force upon the beauty and earnestness of expression of the song of this species, has also noticed and remarked upon the power of individuals to vary their song, from time to time, with very agreeable effect, but no one has recorded so remarkable an instance as that thus carefully noted by Mr. Paine.

These birds are found in almost any cultivated locality where the grounds are sufficiently open. They prefer the edges of open fields, and those of meadows and low grounds, but are rarely found in woods or in thick bushes, except near their outer edges. They nest naturally on the ground, and in such situations a large majority build their nests. These are usually the younger birds. A portion, almost always birds of several summers, probably taught by sad experiences of the insecurity of the ground, build in bushes. A pair which had a nest in an adjoining field had been robbed, by a cat, of their young when just about to fly. After much lamentation, and an interval of a week, I found this same pair, which I easily recognized, building their nest among some vines near my house, some eight feet from the ground. They had abandoned my neighbor’s grounds and taken refuge close to my house. This situation they resorted to afterwards for several successive summers, each season building two nests, never using the same nest a second time, although each time it was left as clean and in as good condition as when first made. Indeed, this species is remarkable for its cleanliness, both in its own person and in its care of nestlings and nests.

They feed their young chiefly with insects, especially small caterpillars; the destructive canker-worm is one of their favorite articles of food, also the larvæ of insects and the smaller moths. When crumbs of bread are given them, they are eagerly gathered and taken to their nests.

In the Middle States they are said to have three broods in a season. This may also be so in New England, but I have never known one pair to have more than two broods in the same summer, even when both had been successfully reared. Nests found after July have always been in cases where some accident had befallen the preceding brood.

The nest of the Song Sparrow, whether built on ground, bush, or tree, is always well and thoroughly made. Externally and at the base it consists of stout stems of grasses, fibrous twigs of plants, and small sticks and rootlets. These are strongly wrought together. Within is made a neat, well-woven basket of fine long stems of grasses, rarely anything else. On the ground they are usually concealed beneath a tuft of grass; sometimes they make a covered passage-way of several inches, leading to their nest. When built in a tree or shrub, the top is often sheltered by the branches or by dry leaves, forming a covering to the structure.

The eggs of the Song Sparrow are five in number, and have an average measurement of .82 by .60 of an inch. They have a ground of a clay-color or dirty white, and are spotted equally over the entire egg with blotches of a rusty-brown, intermingled with lighter shades of purple. In some these markings are so numerous and confluent as to entirely conceal the ground-color; in others they are irregularly diffused over different parts, leaving patches unmarked. Occasionally the eggs are unspotted, and are then not unlike those of Leucosticte griseinucha.

Melospiza melodia, var. fallax, Baird

WESTERN SONG SPARROW

Zonotrichia fallax, Baird, Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. VII, June, 1854, 119 (Pueblo Creek, New Mexico). ? Zonotrichia fasciata, (Gm.) Gambel, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. 2d Series, I, 1847, 49. Melospiza fallax, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 481, pl. xxvii, f. 2.—Kennerly, P. R. R. X, b. pl. xxvii, f. 2.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 215.

Sp. Char. Similar to var. melodia, but with the bill on the whole rather smaller, more slender, and darker. Legs quite dusky, not yellow. Entire plumage of a more grayish cast, including the whole superciliary stripe. The streaks on throat and jugulum in spring are almost black, as in melodia; in autumn more rufous; in all cases quite as sharply defined as in melodia. The bill is nearly black in spring.

Hab. Middle Province of United States, to the Sierra Nevada.

This race, intermediate between melodia and heermanni in habitat, is, however, hardly so in characters. The bill is more slender than in either, being much like that of guttata, and the tail is longer in proportion to the wing. In colors it is paler than either, the ground-cast above being nearly clear grayish: the streaks, both on the back and jugulum, are more sparse, as well as narrower; very frequently, in the winter plumage, those beneath lack the central black, being wholly rufous; such is the case with the type. In summer, however, they are frequently entirely black, the external rufous having entirely disappeared. As in heermanni, the rump is immaculate. The young bird differs as does the adult, though the resemblance to those of melodia and heermanni is more close than in the adult. The very narrow bill and long tail are the most characteristic features of form.

Habits. In habits and song, Dr. Cooper can find no appreciable differences between this variety and its nearest allies. He states that its nest, which he found in a willow thicket, was composed of bark and fine twigs and grass, and lined with hair. Its eggs he describes as bluish-white, blotched and streaked with reddish-brown, and as measuring .74 by .55 of an inch.

Dr. Coues found this species a common and permanent resident in Arizona, and he pronounces its habits, manners, and voice precisely like those of M. melodia. This species, he states, occurs throughout New Mexico, Arizona, and a part of Southern California, and is particularly abundant in the valley of the Colorado.

Dr. Kennerly observed this species only along Pueblo Creek, in the month of January. It did not confine itself to the open valley, but was often seen among the thick bushes that margined the creek, far up into the Aztec Mountains, where the snow covered the ground. In its habits it resembled the Poospiza belli, being very restless and rapid in its motions, accompanying them with a short chirp, feeding upon the seeds of the weeds that remained uncovered by the snow. Its flight was also rapid and near the earth. The bird being very shy, Dr. Kennerly found it difficult to procure many specimens.

According to Mr. Ridgway, the Western Song Sparrow is one of the most abundant of the resident species inhabiting the fertile portions of the Great Basin. It principally occupies the willows along the streams, but is also found in tulé sloughs of the river valleys. From a long acquaintance with the Western Song Sparrows, Mr. Ridgway is fully convinced of the propriety of recognizing this as a distinct variety from the eastern M. melodia. In all respects, as to habits, especially in its familiarity, it replaces at the West the well-known Song Sparrow of the East. When first heard, the peculiar measure and delivery of its song at once attracts attention. The precision of style and method of utterance are quite distinct and constant peculiarities. The song, though as pleasing, is not so loud as that of the eastern Song Sparrow, while the measure is very different. He noted the syllables of its song, and found them quite uniform. He expresses the song thus: Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha—wit´—tur´-r-r-r-r-r—tut. The first six syllables as to accent are exactly alike, but with a considerable interval or pause between the first and second notes. The second to the fifth follow in rapid succession, each being uttered with deliberation and distinctness. Then comes a pause between the last “cha” and the “wit,” which is pronounced in a fine metallic tone with a rising inflection, then another pause, and a liquid trill with a falling inflection, the whole terminating abruptly with a very peculiar “tut,” in an entirely different key from the other notes.

The nests and eggs were found in the Wahsatch Mountains, June 23. The nests were generally among bushes, in willow thickets, along the streams, about a foot from the ground. One of these nests found in a clump of willows, about two feet from the ground and near a stream, is a compact, firmly built nest, in the shape of an inverted dome. It is two and a half inches in height, and about the same in diameter. Externally it is composed of a coarse framework of strips of willow bark firmly bound around. Within is a compactly woven inner nest, composed of straws, mingled and interwoven with horse-hairs. The cavity has a depth and diameter of two inches. The eggs, four in number, measure .85 by .63 of an inch. Their form is a rounded oval, distinctly pointed at one end. They have a greenish-white ground, marked and blotched with splashes of purplish and reddish brown.

Melospiza melodia, var. heermanni, Baird

HEERMANN’S SONG SPARROW

Melospiza heermanni, Baird, Birds N. Am., 1858, 478, pl. 70, f. 1.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 212.

Sp. Char. Somewhat like melodia, but darker. The streaks on the back and under parts blacker, broader, more distinct, and scarcely margined with reddish, except in winter plumage. The median stripe on vertex indistinct. General shade of coloration olivaceous-gray rather than rusty. Length, 6.40; wing, 2.56; tail, 3. Bill and legs in size and color most like melodia.

Hab. Southern California; eastern slope of Sierra Nevada (Carson City), and West Humboldt Mountains, Nev.; Ridgway.

Of the various races of M. melodia, this one approaches nearest the typical style of the Atlantic region; agreeing with it in thicker bill and shorter tail, as compared with the var. fallax, which occurs between them. It differs from the var. melodia, however, in a more grayish cast to the ground-color of the upper plumage, being olivaceous-gray, rather than reddish; the black dorsal streaks are very much broader than the rusty ones, instead of about equal to them in width, and the edges to the interscapular feathers are not appreciably paler than the prevailing shade, instead of being hoary whitish, in strong contrast. In spring the “bridle” on the side of the throat and the spots on the jugulum have the black of their central portion in excess of their external rufous suffusion; but in autumn the rusty rather predominates; at this season, too, the rusty tints above overspread the whole surface, but the black streaks are left sharply defined. At all seasons, the spots on the jugulum are broader and rather more numerous than in melodia. The young can scarcely be distinguished from those of melodia, but they have the dark streaks on the crown and upper tail-coverts considerably broader.

Habits. The California Song Sparrow has been named in honor of the late Dr. Heermann, who first obtained specimens of this bird in the Tejon Valley, and mistook them for the Zonotrichia guttata of Gambel (M. rufina), from which they were appreciably different. Whether a distinct species or only a local race, this bird takes the place and is the almost precise counterpart, in most essential respects, of the Song Sparrow of the East. The exact limits of its distribution, both in the migratory season and in that of reproduction, have hardly yet been ascertained. It has been found in California as far north as San Francisco, and to the south and southeast to San Diego and the Mohave River.

The California Song Sparrow is the characteristic Melospiza in all that portion of the State south of San Francisco. It is found, Dr. Cooper states, in every locality where there are thickets of low bushes and tall weeds, especially in the vicinity of water, and wherever unmolested it comes about the gardens and houses with all the familiarity of the common melodia. The ground, under the shade of plants or bushes, is their usual place of resort. There they diligently search for their food throughout the day, and rarely fly more than a few yards from the place, and remain about their chosen locality from one year’s end to another, being everywhere a resident species. In the spring they are said to perch occasionally on some low bush or tree, and sing a lively and pleasant melody for an hour at a time. Each song, Dr. Cooper remarks, is a complete little stanza of a dozen notes, and is frequently varied or changed entirely for another of similar style, but quite distinct. Although no two birds of this species sing just alike, there is never any difficulty in distinguishing their songs when once heard. There is, he thinks, a similarity of tone and style in the songs of all the species of true Melospiza, which has led other observers to consider them as of only one species, when taken in connection with their other similarities in colors and habits.

Dr. Cooper found a nest, presumed to belong to this bird, at Santa Cruz, in June. It was built in a dense blackberry-bush, about three feet from the ground, constructed with a thick periphery and base of dry grasses and thin strips of bark, and lined with finer grasses. The eggs were of a smoky white, densely speckled with a dull brown. Although this bird was abundant around Santa Cruz, he was only able, after much searching, to find two of their nests. One was in a willow, close against the tree, and three feet from the ground, containing, on the 11th of May, four eggs partially hatched. This was built of coarse dry stems and leaves, lined with finer grasses and horse-hair. It was five inches in external diameter, and four high. The cavity was two and a half inches deep and two in diameter. These eggs had a ground of greenish-white, and were blotched and spotted with a purplish-brown, chiefly at the larger end. They were .82 by .62 of an inch in measurement. The ground-color was paler and the spots were darker than in eggs of Z. gambeli, the whole coloring much darker than in those of M. fallax. This nest was apparently an old one used for a second brood.

Another nest found as late as July 10, and doubtless a second brood, was in a thicket, six feet from the ground, and also contained four eggs. Dr. Cooper states that he has seen the newly fledged young by the 7th of May.

Dr. Heermann, in his account of this bird, which he supposed to be the guttata of Dr. Gambel, states that he found it abundant throughout the whole country over which he passed, and more especially so in the bushes bordering the streams, ponds, and marshes. Its notes, sweet, and few in number, resembled those of the common Song Sparrow. Its nests, usually built in thick tufts of bushes, were composed externally of grasses and lined with hair, and contained each four eggs, with a pale bluish-ash ground, thickly covered with dashes of burnt umber. Eggs of this species, from near Monterey, collected by Dr. Canfield, vary in measurement from .85 by .65 of an inch to .88 by .70,—larger than any eggs of Melospiza melodia that I have seen. Their ground-color is a light green. The blotches are large, distinct, and more or less confluent, and of a blended reddish and purplish brown. They are in some diffused over the entire egg, in others disposed around the larger end.

Melospiza melodia, var. samuelis, Baird

SAMUELS’S SONG SPARROW

Ammodromus samuelis, Baird, Pr. Boston Soc. N. H. VI, June, 1858, 381.—Ib. Birds N. Am. 1858, 455, pl. lxxi, f. 1.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 191. Melospiza gouldi, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 479.

Sp. Char. Somewhat like Melospiza melodia, but considerably smaller and darker. Bill slender and acute, the depth not more than half the culmen. Above streaked on the head, back, and rump with dark brown, the borders of the feathers paler, but without any rufous. Beneath pure white; the breast, with sides of throat and body, spotted and streaked with black, apparently farther back than on other species. Wings above nearly uniform dark brownish-rufous. Under tail-coverts yellowish-brown, conspicuously blotched with blackish. An ashy superciliary stripe, becoming nearly white to the bill, and a whitish maxillary one below which is a broad blackish stripe along the sides of neck; the crown with faint grayish median line. Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.20; tail, 2.35. Bill dusky; legs rather pale. Bill, .35 from nostril by .24 deep; tarsus, .71; middle toe without claw, .58. (5,553 ♂, Petaluma, Cal.)

Hab. Coast region of California, near San Francisco.

The above description is of a specimen in worn summer plumage, when the markings have not the sharp definition seen in the autumnal plumage. The autumnal plumage is as follows: Ground-color above grayish-olive, outer surface of wings, with the crown, more rufous; crown with narrow, and dorsal region with broad, stripes of black, the latter with scarcely a perceptible rufous suffusion; crown with a distinct median stripe of ashy. Streaks on jugulum, etc., broader than in the type, and with a slight rufous suffusion. Wing, 2.20; tail, 2.35; bill from nostril .31, its depth .22; tarsus .74; middle toe without claw, .60.

The type of Melospiza gouldi resembles the last, and differs only in having a more distinct rufous suffusion to the black markings; the measurements are as follows: Wing, 2.20; tail, 2.35; bill, .33 by .23; tarsus, .73; middle toe without claw, .59.

This is probably a dwarfed race of the common species, the very small size being its chief distinctive character. The colors are most nearly like those of heermanni, but are considerably darker, caused by an expansion of the black and contraction of the rufous markings. The pattern of coloration is precisely the same as in the other races. The present bird appears to be peculiar to the coast region of California, the only specimens in the collection being from the neighborhood of San Francisco.

Habits. Of the history, distribution, and general habits of this species, nothing is known. It was found at Petaluma, Cal., by Emanuel Samuels, and described in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1858. The following description of the nest and eggs of this bird, in the Smithsonian collection, has been kindly furnished me by Mr. Ridgway.

Nests elaborate and symmetrical, cup-shaped, composed of thin grass-stems, but externally chiefly of grass-blades and strips of thin inner bark. Diameter about 3.50 inches; internal diameter 2.00, and internal depth 1.50; external, 2.00. Egg measures .78 by .62; regularly ovate in shape; ground-color, greenish-white; this is thickly sprinkled with purplish and livid ashy-brown, the specks larger, and somewhat coalescent, around the larger circumference. (3553, San Francisco, Cal., J. Hepburn.)

Melospiza melodia, var. guttata, Baird

OREGON SONG SPARROW

Fringilla cinerea, (Gm.) Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 22, pl. cccxc.—Ib. Syn. 1839, 119.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 145, pl. clxxxvii. Passerella cinerea, Bp. List, 1839.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 477. Fringilla (Passerella) guttata, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 581. Zonotrichia guttata, Gambel, J. A. N. Sc. I, Dec. 1847, 50. Melospiza rufina, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 480.—Cooper & Suckley, 204.—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1859, 285.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 214.

Sp. Char. Bill slender. Similar in general appearance to M. melodia, but darker and much more rufous, and without any blackish-brown streaks, or grayish edges of the feathers; generally the colors more blended. General appearance above light rufous-brown, the interscapular region streaked very obsoletely with dark brownish-rufous, the feathers of the crown similar, with still darker obsolete central streaks. A superciliary and very indistinct median crown-stripe ashy. Under parts dull white, the breast and sides of throat and body broadly streaked with dark brownish-rufous; darker in the centre. A light maxillary stripe. Sides of the body and anal region tinged strongly with the colors of the rump. Under coverts brown. Length, 6.75; wing, 2.70; tail, 3.00. Legs rather darker than in melodia. Bill from nostril, .37; from forehead, .60.

Hab. Pacific coast of the United States to British Columbia.

A young bird from Napa Valley, Cal. (12,912, Colonel A. J. Grayson), probably referrible to this race, differs from the corresponding stage of heermanni, fallax, and melodia in the following respects: the ground-color above is much darker, being dull dingy-brown, and the dusky streaks broader; the white beneath has a strong yellowish tinge, and the pectoral streaks are very broad.

Habits. Dr. Cooper characterizes this species as the most northern and mountain-frequenting representative of the Song Sparrows, being a resident of the higher Sierra Nevada and on the borders of the evergreen forests towards the Columbia, and thence northward, where it is the only species of this genus, and where it is common down to the level of the sea. Specimens have been obtained at Marysville in the spring, by Mr. Gruber.

Dr. Cooper says that he has also met with this bird, and found it possessing habits and songs entirely similar to those of the eastern M. melodia, and resembling also those of the more southern M. heermanni. He was never able to meet with one of their nests, as, like other forest birds, they are more artful in concealing their treasures than birds that have become accustomed to the society and protection of man, and who, no longer wild, select gardens as the safest places in which to build. In the mild winters usual about the mouth of the Columbia, these birds do not evince any disposition to emigrate, but come familiarly around the houses for their food, when the snow has buried their usual supply.

Dr. Suckley remarks that this Finch is quite a common bird in the vicinity of Puget Sound, and that it is there resident throughout the year. He has found them in very different situations; some in thickets at the edges of prairies, others in stranded drift-logs on open salt marshes, as well as in swamps, and in the dense forests of the Douglass firs, peculiar to the northwest coast. Its voice, he adds, is, during the breeding-season, singularly sweet and melodious, surpassing that of the Meadow Lark in melody and tone, but unequal to it in force.

This species is stated to be a constant resident in the district wherein it is found, never ranging far from the thicket which contains its nest, or the house in the neighborhood of which it finds food and protection. Almost every winter morning, as well as during the summer, as Dr. Cooper states, its cheerful song may be heard from the garden or the fence, as if to repay those whose presence has protected it from its rapacious enemies. When unmolested, it becomes very familiar, and the old birds bring their young to the door to feed, as soon as they can leave their nest. Their song is said to so closely resemble that of the eastern bird, in melody and variety, that it is impossible either to tell which is the superior or to point out the differences. In wild districts it is always to be found near the sides of brooks, in thickets, from which it jealously drives off other birds, whether of its own or other species, as if it considered itself the proprietor. Its nest is built on the ground or in a low bush. Dr. Cooper has seen newly fledged young as early as May 6, at Olympia, though the rainy season was then hardly over.

Mr. Nuttall pronounces its song as sweeter and more varied in tone than that of the Song Sparrow. He heard their cheerful notes throughout the summer, and every fine day in winter until the month of November, particularly in the morning, their song was still continued. Their nests and eggs were not distinguishable from those of F. melodia. The nests were composed of dry grasses, lined with finer materials of the same, and occasionally with deer’s hair. He states that they keep much in low ground and alluvial situations, amidst rank weeds, willows, and brambles, where they are frequently to be seen hopping about and searching after insects, in the manner of the Swamp Sparrow, which they so much resemble in their plumage. They are usually very solicitous for the safety of their young or for their nests and eggs, keeping up an incessant chirp. They raise several broods in a season, and are, like the Song Sparrow, also engaged nearly the whole of the summer in the cares of rearing their young.

Mr. Townsend met with this species through several hundred miles of the Platte country in great numbers, as well as on the banks of the Columbia, generally frequenting the low bushes of wormwood (Artemisia). It appeared also to be a very pugnacious species. Two of the males were often observed fighting in the air, the beaten party going off crestfallen, and the conqueror repairing to the nearest bush to celebrate his triumph by his lively and triumphant strains. He again met with these birds, though not in abundance, in June, 1825, at the mouth of the Lewis River, on the waters of the Columbia.

This Sparrow was also found very numerous at Sitka, by Mr. Bischoff, but no mention is made of its habits.

Melospiza melodia, var. rufina, Baird

RUSTY SONG SPARROW

Emberiza rufina, “Brandt, Desc. Av. Rossic. 1836, tab. ii, 5 (Sitka),” Bonaparte. Passerella rufina, Bonap. Consp. 1850, 477. (This may refer to Passerella townsendi, but is more probably the present bird.) Melospiza cinerea, Finsch, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 41 (Sitka). (Not Fringilla c. Gmel.) M. guttata, Finsch, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 41 (Sitka). (Not Fringilla g. Nutt.)

Sp. Char. Resembling M. guttata in the undefined markings, slender bill, etc., but olivaceous-brownish instead of rufous above, the darker markings sepia-brown instead of castaneous. The white beneath much tinged with ashy; jugulum-spots blended, and of a sepia-brown tint. Wing, 3.00; tail, 3.00; bill .41 from nostril, and .25 deep at base.

Hab. Northwest coast, from British Columbia northward. (Sitka.)

The above characters are those of a large series of specimens from Sitka, and a few points along the coast to the southward and northward, and represent the average features of a race which is intermediate between guttata and insignis, in appearance as well as in habitat. Tracing this variety toward the Columbia River, it gradually passes into the former, and northward into the latter.

We have no distinctive information relative to the habits of this race.

Melospiza melodia, var. insignis, Baird

KODIAK SONG SPARROW

? Fringilla cinerea, Gmelin, I, 1788, 922 (based on Cinereous Finch, Lath. II, 274).—Penn. Arc. Zoöl. II, 68 (Unalaschka). Emberiza cinerea, Bonap. Consp. 1850, 478. Melospiza insignis, Baird, Trans. Chicago Acad. I, ii, 1869, p. 319, pl. xxix, fig. 2.—Dall & Bannister, do. p. 285.—Finsch, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 44 (Kodiak).

Sp. Char. Summer plumage (52,477 ♂, Kodiak, May 24, 1868). Above brownish-plumbeous, outer surface of wings somewhat more brown, the greater coverts slightly rufescent. Interscapulars with medial broad but obsolete streaks of sepia-brown; crown and upper tail-coverts with more sharply defined and narrower dusky shaft-streaks. Crown without medial light line. Beneath grayish-white, much obscured by brownish-plumbeous laterally. A whitish supraloral space, but no appreciable superciliary stripe; a whitish maxillary stripe; beneath it an irregular one of dusky sepia; irregular streaks of dark grizzly-sepia on breast and along sides, blended into a broad crescent across the jugulum. Wing, 3.30; tail, 3.50; bill, .48 from nostril, .28 deep at base, and .21 in the middle, the middle of the culmen being much depressed, its extremity rather abruptly decurved.

Autumnal plumage (60,162, Kodiak, received from Dr. J. F. Brandt). Differs very remarkably in appearance from the preceding. The pattern of coloration is everywhere plainly plotted, there being a distinct vertical and sharply defined superciliary stripe. Ground-color above ashy, somewhat overlaid by rusty, except on the sides of the neck. Whole crown, outer surface of wings, and dorsal streaks, rusty rufous; black streaks on crown and upper tail-coverts obsolete. Beneath pure white medially, the markings rusty rufous. Wing, 3.30; tail, 3.60; bill, .47 and .30.

Hab. Kodiak and Unalaschka.

This race represents the extreme extent of variation in the species, and it would be difficult for a species to proceed farther from the normal standard; indeed, the present bird is so different even in form, especially of bill, from melodia, that, were it not for the perfect series connecting them, few naturalists would hesitate to place them in different genera.

Habits. No information has so far been published in reference to the nesting of this Sparrow, or of any peculiar habits.

Melospiza lincolni, Baird

LINCOLN’S FINCH

Fringilla lincolni, Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 539, pl. cxciii.—Nutt. Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 569. Linaria lincolni, Rich. List, 1837. Passerculus lincolni, Bonap. List, 1838. Peucæa lincolni, Aud. Synopsis, 1839, 113.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 116, pl. clxxvii.—Bonap. Consp. 1850, 481.—Ib. Comptes Rendus, XXVII, 1854, 920. Melospiza lincolni, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 482.—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 285 (Alaska).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 216. Passerculus zonarius, (Bp.) Sclater, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1856, 305.

Sp. Char. General aspect above that of M. melodia, but paler and less reddish. Crown dull chestnut, with a median and lateral or superciliary ash-colored stripe; each feather above streaked centrally with black. Back with narrow streaks of black. Beneath white, with a maxillary stripe curving round behind the ear-coverts; a well-defined band across the breast, extending down the sides, and the under tail-coverts, of brownish-yellow. The maxillary stripe margined above and below with lines of black spots and a dusky line behind eye. The throat, upper part of breast, and sides of the body, with streaks of black, smallest in the middle of the former. The pectoral bands are sometimes paler. Bill above dusky; base of lower jaw and legs yellowish. Length, 5.60; wing, 2.60.

Hab. United States from Atlantic to Pacific, north to the Yukon River and the Mackenzie, and south through Mexico to Panama. Oaxaca (Scl. 1858, 303); Xalapa (Scl. 1859, 365); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 18); Vera Cruz, winter (Sum. M. B. S. I, 552).

There is little or no difference in specimens of this bird from the whole of its range, except that one from near Aspinwall is considerably smaller than usual, the streaks on the back narrower, and the color above more reddish. A young bird from Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie, is much like the adult.

Habits. Lincoln’s Finch was first met with by Mr. Audubon in Labrador, and named in honor of one of his companions, Mr. Thomas Lincoln, now residing at Dennysville, Maine, by whom the first specimen was procured. His attention was attracted to it by the sweet notes of its song, which, he states, surpass in vigor those of any of our American Sparrows with which he was acquainted. He describes this song as a compound of the notes of a Canary and a Woodlark of Europe. The bird was unusually wild, and was procured with great difficulty. Other specimens, afterwards obtained, did not exhibit the same degree of wildness, and they became more common as the party proceeded farther north. He did not meet with its nest.

He describes the habits of this species as resembling, in some respects, those of the Song Sparrow. It mounts, like that bird, on the topmost twig of some tall shrub to chant for whole hours at a time, or dives into the thickets and hops from branch to branch until it reaches the ground in search of those insects or berries on which it feeds. It moves swiftly away when it discovers an enemy, and, if forced to take to flight, flies low and rapidly to a considerable distance, jerking its tail as it proceeds, and throwing itself into the thickest bush it meets. Mr. Audubon found it mostly near streams, and always in the small valleys guarded from the prevalent cold winds of that country.

He also describes this species as eminently petulant and pugnacious. Two males would often pursue each other until the weaker was forced to abandon the valley, and seek refuge elsewhere. He seldom saw more than two or three pairs in a tract of several miles in extent. By the 4th of July the young had left their nests and were following their parents. As from that time the old birds ceased to sing, he inferred that they raised but one brood in a season. Before he left Labrador these birds had all disappeared.

Although first discovered on the coast of Labrador, subsequent explorations have shown this bird to be far more common at the West than it is at the East, where indeed it is exceedingly rare. Not a specimen, that I am aware of, has ever been found in Maine, although it probably does occasionally occur there; and only a very few isolated individuals had been taken in Massachusetts before the spring of 1872, when they were noticed by Mr. Brewster and Mr. Henshaw in considerable numbers. These birds, seven or eight in number, were shot, with two exceptions, in May, between the 14th and the 25th. Three were taken in Springfield by Mr. Allen, one in Newburyport by Mr. Hoxie, two in Hudson by Mr. Jillson, and two in Cambridge by Mr. Brewster. The latter were obtained, one in September and the other in October. In May, 1872, Mr. Brewster obtained six others. Mr. Allen had met with this Finch in Wayne County, N. Y., in May, where it was not uncommon, and in Northern Illinois, where it was quite numerous. A few have been taken near New York City, and in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, where they are regarded as very rare. Professor Baird, however, frequently met with them at Carlisle, Penn.

Farther west, from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific, they are much more common. Mr. Ridgway states that they occasionally winter in Southern Illinois, where they frequent retired thickets near open fields. They have been found breeding near Racine, Wis., by Dr. Hoy, and have been met with also in Nebraska in considerable numbers; and, during the breeding-season, Mr. Audubon met with them on the Upper Missouri.

From March to May Mr. Dresser found these birds very abundant in the fields near the San Antonio River, and in some swampy grounds. They seemed to prefer that sort of locality, and the banks of the river, keeping among the flags and rushes. Their stomachs were found to contain small seeds. Mr. Lincecum also met with a few in Washington County of the same State.

It was not met with in Arizona by Dr. Coues, but Dr. Kennerly found it in the month of February from the Big Sandy to the Great Colorado River. It confined itself to the thick bushes along the streams, and when seen was generally busily hopping from twig to twig in search of food. When started up, its flight was very rapid and near the earth.

Dr. Heermann obtained this species, not unfrequently, both in Northern California and in the Tejon Valley. On all occasions he found it in company with flocks of Sparrows, composed of several species.

Lieutenant Couch took this species at Tamaulipas, Mexico, and at Brownsville, Southwestern Texas, in March. It has also been seen in May, at the Forks of the Saskatchewan, by Captain Blakiston.

Lincoln’s Finch was met with by Mr. Ridgway in abundance only during its spring and fall migrations. Towards the last of April it was quite common in wet brushy places in the vicinity of Carson City. It was next observed in October among the willows bordering Deep Creek, in Northern Utah. In the weedy pastures in Parley’s Park it was a common species, frequenting the resorts of the Z. leucophrys. A nest, with young, was discovered near the camp. It was embedded in the ground, beneath a bush. Its song he did not hear, only a single chuck, almost as loud as that of the Passerella schistacea.

Dr. Cooper reports this species as near San Diego about March 25. Large flocks were then passing northward. During the day they kept among the grass, and were rather shy and silent. They seemed to have a good deal of the habits of the Passerculus, and to differ much in their gregariousness, their migratory habits, and their general form, from the other Melospizæ. Dr. Cooper did not meet with any of these birds in the Colorado Valley, nor has he seen or heard of any having been found in California during the summer. The M. lincolni has been found breeding up to high Arctic latitudes. It was met with by Mr. Kennicott at Fort Simpson and at Fort Resolution. At the latter place its nests were found between the 2d and the 14th of June. They were also obtained in May, June, and July, at Fort Simpson, by Mr. B. R. Ross, and at Yukon River, Fort Rae, Nulato, and other localities in the extreme northern regions, by Messrs. Reid, Lockhart, Clarke, Kirkby, and Dall. On Mt. Lincoln, Colorado, above eight thousand feet, Mr. Allen found this Sparrow very numerous.

This Finch was found by Salvin about the reeds on the margin of Lake Dueñas, Guatemala, in February, but was not common. It is common, in the winter months, near Oaxaca, Mexico, where it was taken by Mr. Boucard.

Mr. Kennicott saw its nest June 14. This was on the ground, built in a bunch of grass in rather an open and dry place, and containing five eggs. The female permitted him to approach very close to her, until he finally caught her on the nest with his beating-net. Another nest was placed in a bunch of grass growing in the water of a small grassy pond. The nest contained four eggs and one young bird.

The nest and eggs of this species had been previously discovered by Dr. Hoy, near Racine. This is, I believe, the first instance in which it was identified by a naturalist, as also the most southern point at which it has ever been found. These eggs measure .74 by .60 of an inch. They have a pale greenish-white ground, and are thickly marked with dots and small blotches of a ferruginous-brown, often so numerous and confluent as to disguise and partially conceal the ground.

Melospiza palustris, Baird

SWAMP SPARROW

Fringilla palustris, Wilson, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 49, pl. xxii, f. 1.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 331; V, 508, pl. lxiv. Fringilla (Spiza) palustris, Bonap. Obs. Wilson, 1825, No. 105. Passerculus palustris, Bonap. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 481. Ammodromus palustris, Aud. Syn. 1839.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 110, pl. clxxv. Melospiza palustris, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 483.—Samuels, 323. ? Fringilla georgiana, Lath. Index Orn. I, 1790, 460 (perhaps Peucæa æstivalis).—Licht. Verz. 1823, No. 251. Fringilla (Ammodromus) georgiana, Nutt. Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 588.

Sp. Char. Middle of the crown uniform chestnut; forehead black; superciliary streak, sides of head and back, and sides of neck, ash. A brown stripe behind the eye. Back with broad streaks of black, which are edged with rusty yellow. Beneath whitish, tinged with ashy anteriorly, especially across the breast, and washed with yellowish-brown on the sides. A few obsolete streaks across the breast, which become distinct on its sides. Wings and tail strongly tinged with rufous; the tertials black, the rufous edgings changing abruptly to white towards the end. Length, 5.75; wing, 2.40.

Female with the crown scarcely reddish streaked with black, and divided by a light line. Young conspicuously streaked beneath the head, above nearly uniform blackish.

Hab. Eastern North America from the Atlantic to the Missouri; north to Fort Simpson.

In autumn the male of this species has the feathers of the crown each with a black streak; and the centre of the crown with an indistinct light stripe, materially changing its appearance.

The forehead is usually more or less streaked with black.

In the uncertainty whether the Fringilla georgiana of Latham be not rather the Peucæa æstivalis than the Swamp Sparrow, I think it best to retain Wilson’s name. It certainly applies as well to the latter, which has the black sub-maxillary streak, and the chin and throat more mouse-colored than in palustris.

Habits. Owing to the residence of this species in localities not favoring frequent visits or careful explorations, and still more to its shy and retiring habits, our writers have not been generally well informed as to the history and general manners of this peculiar and interesting Sparrow. Its irregular distribution, its abundance only in certain and unusually restricted localities, its entire absence from all the surrounding neighborhood, and its secretiveness wherever found, have all combined to throw doubt and obscurity over its movements. Unless purposely looked for and perseveringly hunted up, the Swamp Sparrow might exist in large numbers in one’s immediate neighborhood and yet entirely escape notice. Even now its whole story is but imperfectly known, and more careful investigation into its distribution and general habits will doubtless clear up several obscure points in regard to its movements.

PLATE XXVIII.

1. Melospiza palustris. ♂ D. C., 38746.

2. Melospiza palustris. ♀ Pa.

3. Embernagra rufivirgata. Orizaba, 29229.

4. Peucæa æstivalis. Ga., 10245.

5. Peucæa cassini. Texas, 6329.

6. Peucæa ruficeps. Cal., 6241.

7. Passerella iliaca. Ad., Pa., 846.

8. Passerella townsendi. ♀ Columbia R., 2874.

9. Passerella schistacea. Utah, 11234.

10. Passerella schistacea. var. megarhyncha. ♂ Utah.

11. Euspiza americana. ♂ Pa., 1459.

12. Euspiza americana. ♀ D. C., 10133.

13. Euspiza townsendi. Pa., 10282. (Type.)

From what is now known, we gather that it occurs throughout the eastern portions of North America, from the Southern States, in which it passes the wintry months, to high northern latitudes, where some find their way in the breeding-season, extending as far to the west at least as the Missouri River region.

Three specimens were obtained at Fort Simpson, by Mr. Kennicott, in September, which indicates their probable summer presence in latitude 55°, and their near approach to the Pacific coast at the extreme northwestern portion of their distribution. Audubon also met with them in Newfoundland and in Labrador. They are known to breed as far to the south as Pennsylvania. They have been taken in the eastern portion of Nebraska, and breed in considerable numbers in Southern Wisconsin. Further investigations in regard to its distribution will probably show it to be a much more widely distributed as well as a more abundant bird than has been generally supposed.

Mr. Ridgway writes me that this bird winters in Southern Illinois, and remains there very late in the spring, but he thinks that none remain to breed.

Wilson states that it arrives in Pennsylvania early in April, where it frequents low grounds and river-courses, rears two and sometimes three broods in a season, and returns to the South as the cold weather commences. During the winter, he met with them in large numbers in the immense cypress swamps and extensive grassy flats of the Southern States, along the numerous rivers and rice plantations. These places abounded with their favorite seeds and other means of sustenance, and appeared to be their general places of resort at this season. From the river Trent, in North Carolina, to the Savannah River, and even farther south, Wilson found this species very numerous. They were not found in flocks, but skulked among the reeds and grass, were shy and timorous, and seemed more attached to the water than any others of this family. In April large numbers pass through Pennsylvania northward. Only a few remain behind, and these frequent the swamps and the reedy borders of creeks and rivers. He found their nests built in the ground, in tussocks of rank grass, surrounded by water, with four eggs of a dirty-white ground, spotted with rufous. He has found them feeding their young as late as the 15th of August. Their food seemed to be principally grass-seeds, wild oats, and insects. He supposed them to have no song, and that their only note was a single cheep uttered in a somewhat hoarse tone. They flirt their tails as they fly, seldom or never take to trees, but run and skulk from one low bush to another.

Except in regard to their song, Wilson’s account of their habits, so far as it goes, is quite accurate, although this bird really does have quite a respectable song, and one that improves as the season advances. At first it is only a succession or repetition of a few monotonous trilling notes, which might easily be mistaken for the song of the Field Sparrow, or even confounded with the feebler chant of the socialis, although not so varied as the former, and is much more sprightly and pleasing than the other. Still later its music improves, and more effort is made. Like the Song Sparrow, it mounts some low twig, expands its tail-feathers, and gives forth a very sprightly trill that echoes through the swampy thicket with an effect which, once noticed and identified with the performer, is not likely to be ever mistaken. Nuttall calls this song loud, sweet, and plaintive. It is to my ear more sprightly than pathetic, and has a peculiarly ventriloquistic effect, as if the performer were at a much greater distance than he really is.

Their food, when they first arrive, and that which they feed to their young, consists very largely of insects, principally coleopterous ones, with such few seeds as they can glean. After the breeding-season, when their young can take care of themselves, they eat almost exclusively the ripened seeds of the coarse water grasses and sedges. They are very devoted to their young, and often display great solicitude for their safety, even when able to take care of themselves, and often expose themselves to dangers they carefully avoid at other times, and are thus more easily procured. At all other times they are difficult to shoot, running, as they do, through the grass and tangled thickets, and rarely rising on the wing. They dive from thicket to thicket with great rapidity, and even when wounded have a wonderful power of running and hiding themselves.

Mr. Audubon met with them, during autumn and winter, among the flat sand-bars of the Mississippi, which are overgrown with rank grasses. Though not in flocks, their numbers were immense. They fed on grass-seeds and insects, often wading for the latter in shallow water in the manner of the Tringidæ, and when wounded and forced into the water swimming off to the nearest shelter. He also met with these birds abundantly dispersed in the swamps of Cuyaga Lake, as well as among those along the Illinois River in the summer, and in the winter up the Arkansas River.

Mr. Townsend observed these birds on the head-waters of the Upper Missouri, but did not meet with them beyond.

In Maine, Mr. Boardman gives it as a regular summer visitant at Calais, arriving there as early as March, becoming common in May, and breeding in that locality. Professor Verrill found it in Western Maine, a summer visitant and breeding, but did not regard it as common. From my own experience, in the neighborhood of Boston, I should have said the same as to its infrequency in Eastern Massachusetts, yet in certain localities it is a very abundant summer resident. Mr. William Brewster has found it breeding in large numbers in the marshes of Fresh Pond, where it arrives sometimes as early as the latter part of March, and where it remains until November. In the western part of the State it is more common as a migratory bird, and has not been found, in any numbers, stopping to breed. Mr. Allen never met with any later than May 25. They were observed to be in company with the Water Thrush, and to be in every way as aquatic in their habits. In the autumn he again met with it from the last of September through October, always in bushy marshes or wet places. Mr. McIlwraith states that in the vicinity of Hamilton, Ontario, it is a common summer resident, breeding there in marshy situations. At Lake Koskonong, in Wisconsin, Mr. Kumlien has also met with these birds abundantly in suitable localities, and found their nests and eggs quite plentiful.

Mr. Ridgway has recently found this Sparrow to be a very abundant winter resident in Southern Illinois, where it inhabits swampy thickets, and where it remains until May, but is not known to breed there.

They always nest on the ground, usually in a depression sheltered by a tuft of grass. The nest is woven of fine grass-stems, but is smaller than the nest of M. melodia.

The eggs of this species, usually five in number, have an average measurement of .78 by .60 of an inch. Their ground-color is usually a light green, occasionally of a light clay, marked and blotched with reddish and purplish brown spots, varying in size and number, occasionally forming a confluent ring around the larger end.

Genus PEUCÆA, Audubon

Peucæa, Aud. Synopsis, 1839. (Type, Fringilla æstivalis.) Sclater & Salvin, 1868, 322 (Synopsis.)

Peucæa æstivalis.

10245 ♂

Gen. Char. Bill moderate. Upper outline and commissure decidedly curved. Legs and feet with the claws small; the tarsus about equal to the middle toe; the lateral toes equal, their claws falling considerably short of the middle one; the hind toe reaching about to the middle of the latter. The outstretched feet reach rather beyond the middle of the tail. The wing is very short, reaching only to the base of the tail; the longest tertials do not exceed the secondaries, while both are not much short of the primaries; the outer three or four quills are graduated. The tail is considerably longer than the wings; it is much graduated laterally; the feathers, though long, are peculiarly narrow, linear, and elliptically rounded at the ends.

Color beneath plain whitish or brownish, with a more or less distinct dusky line each side of the chin. Above with broad obsolete brown streaks or blotches. Crown uniform, or the feathers edged with lighter.

Species and Varieties

Common Characters. A light superciliary stripe, with a brownish one below it from the eye along upper edge of ear-coverts (not one along lower edge of ear-coverts, as in Melospiza). A narrow blackish “bridle” along side of throat (sometimes indistinct). Crown without a distinct median stripe, and lower parts without markings. Ground-color above ashy, sometimes of a brownish cast; dorsal region and nape with brown blotches, with or without dark centres. Crown blackish-brown streaked with ashy or plain rufous. Beneath plain brownish-white, lightest on the abdomen, darker across jugulum and along sides.

A. Crown plain rufous; interscapulars without distinct black centres, and tertials without whitish border. Blackish “bridle” conspicuous. Bend of wing edged with white.

1. P. ruficeps.

Above olivaceous-ash, interscapulars with broad streaks of dull rufous, the shafts scarcely blackish. Crown bright rufous. Wing, 2.40; tail, 2.70; bill, .29 from forehead, .20 deep; tarsus, .70; middle toe without claw, .55. Hab. California (and Mexico in winter?) … var. ruficeps.

Darker, above brownish-plumbeous, dorsal streaks scarcely rufous, and with distinctly black shaft-streaks; crown darker rufous. Wing, 2.40; tail, 2.60; bill, .34 and .25; tarsus, .77; middle toe, .57. Hab. Mexico (Orizaba; Oaxaca), in summer … var. boucardi.7

B. Crown streaked; interscapulars with distinct black centres; tertials sharply bordered terminally with paler. “Bridle” obsolete; bend of wing edged with yellowish.

2. P. æstivalis. Above uniformly marked with broad streaks or longitudinal blotches of deep rufous; black streaks confined to interscapulars and crown. Tail-feathers without darker shaft-stripe, and without indications of darker bars; the outer feathers without distinct white. Black marks on upper tail-coverts inconspicuous, longitudinal.

The bluish-ash, and chestnut-rufous streaks above sharply contrasted; black dorsal streaks broad. Wing, 2.45; tail, 2.65; bill, .30 and .30; tarsus, .73; middle toe, .60. Hab. Southern States from Florida and Georgia to Southern Illinois … var. æstivalis.

The dull ash and light rufous streaks above not sharply defined; black dorsal streaks narrow. Wing, 2.65; tail, 3.00; bill, .32 and .25; tarsus, .80; middle toe, .63. Hab. Southern border of the Arizona region of Middle Province of United States … var. arizonæ.

Markings badly defined as in the last, but the rufous streaks darker (in summer plumage almost entirely black), with more black on the crown. Wing, 2.55; tail, 2.65; bill, .32 and .25; tarsus, .80; middle toe, .60. Hab. Mexico (Orizaba; Mirador, Colima) … var. botterii.8

3. P. cassini. Above marked everywhere with broad short streaks of pale (not reddish) brown streaks, all black medially. Tail-feathers with distinct blackish shaft-stripe, throwing off narrow, obsolete bars toward the edge of the feathers. Outer tail-feathers distinctly tipped (broadly) and edged with dull white. Black marks on upper tail-coverts very large, transverse. Beneath nearly uniform dull white, scarcely darker along sides and across breast; flanks with broad streaks of blackish-brown. Wing, 2.55; tail, 2.80; bill, .28 and .23; tarsus, .68; middle toe, .55. Hab. Rio Grande, region (San Antonio and Laredo), north to Kansas (Allen).

Peucæa æstivalis, Cabanis

BACHMAN’S SPARROW

Fringilla æstivalis, Licht. Verz. Doubl. 1823, 25, No. 254.—Bonap. Conspectus, 1850, 481. Peucæa æstivalis, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1850, 132.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 484. Fringilla bachmani, Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 366, pl. clxv. Ammodromus bachmani, Bon. List, 1838. Peucæa bachmani, Aud. Syn. 1839.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 113, pl. clxxvi.—Bon. Consp. 1850, 481 (type). Fringilla æstiva, Nutt. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 568. “Summer finch, Latham, Synopsis, (2d ed.,) VI, 136.” Nuttall.

Peucæa æstivalis.

Sp. Char. All the feathers of the upper parts rather dark brownish-red or chestnut, margined with bluish-ash, which almost forms a median stripe on the crown. Interscapular region and upper tail-coverts with the feathers becoming black in the centre. An indistinct ashy superciliary stripe. Under parts pale yellow-brownish, tinged with ashy on the sides, and with darker brownish across the upper part of the breast. A faint maxillary dusky line. Indistinct streaks of chestnut along the sides. Edge of wing yellow; lesser coverts tinged with greenish. Innermost secondaries abruptly margined with narrow whitish. Legs yellow. Bill above dusky, yellowish beneath. Outer tail-feathers obsoletely marked with a long blotch of paler at end. Female considerably smaller. Young with rounded dusky specks on the jugulum, which is more ochraceous. Length, 6.25; wing, 2.30; tail, 2.78.

Hab. Georgia; Florida; South Illinois, breeding (Ridgway). (Perhaps whole of Southern States from Florida to South Illinois.)

Specimens from Southern Illinois (Wabash Co., July, 1871; coll. of R. Ridgway) are similar to Florida examples.

Habits. Bachman’s Finch has only been known, until very recently, as a species of a very restricted range, and confined within the limits of the States of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Our principal, and for some time our only, knowledge of its habits was derived from the account furnished by Rev. Dr. Bachman to Mr. Audubon. That observing naturalist first met with it in the month of April, 1832, near Parker’s Ferry, on the Edisto River, in South Carolina. Dr. Henry Bryant afterwards met with this species at Indian River, in Florida, where he obtained specimens of its nests and eggs. Dr. Alexander Gerhardt also found these Sparrows common at Varnell’s Station, in the northern part of Georgia. Professor Joseph Leconte has taken it near Savannah, and Mr. W. L. Jones has also obtained several specimens in Liberty County, in the same State.

After meeting with this species on the Edisto, Dr. Bachman ascertained, upon searching for them in the vicinity of Charlestown, that they breed in small numbers on the pine barrens, about six miles north of that city. He was of the opinion that it is by no means so rare in that State as has been supposed, but that it is more often heard than seen. When he first heard it, the notes so closely resembled those of the Towhee Bunting that for a while he mistook them for those of that bird. Their greater softness and some slight variations at last induced him to suspect that the bird was something different, and led him to go in pursuit. After that it was quite a common thing for him to hear as many as five or six in the course of a morning’s ride, but he found it almost impossible to get even a sight of the bird. This is owing, not so much to its being so wild, as to the habit it has of darting from the tall pine-trees, on which it usually sits to warble out its melodious notes, and concealing itself in the tall broom-grass that is almost invariably found in the places it frequents. As soon as it alights it runs off, in the manner of a mouse, and hides itself in the grass, and it is extremely difficult to get a sight of it afterwards.

It was supposed by Dr. Bachman—correctly, as it has been ascertained—to breed on the ground, where it is always to be found when it is not singing. He never met with its nest. In June, 1853, he observed two pairs of these birds, each having four young. They were pretty well fledged, and were following their parents along the low scrub-oaks of the pine lands.

Dr. Bachman regarded this bird as decidedly the finest songster of the Sparrow family with which he was acquainted. Its notes are described as very loud for the size of the bird, and capable of being heard at a considerable distance in the pine woods where it occurs, and where at that season it is the only singer.

He also states that, by the middle of November, they have all disappeared, probably migrating farther south. It is quite probable that they do not go beyond the limits of the United States, and that some remain in South Carolina during the whole of winter, as on the 6th of February, the coldest part of the year, Dr. Bachman found one of them in the long grass near Charleston.

Mr. Audubon says that on his return from Florida, in June, 1832, travelling through both the Carolinas, he observed many of these Finches on the sides of the roads cut through the pine woods of South Carolina. They filled the air with their melodies. He traced them as far as the boundary line of North Carolina, but saw none within the limits of that State. They were particularly abundant about the Great Santee River.

This Finch, hitherto assumed to be an exclusively southeastern species, has recently been detected by Mr. Ridgway in Southern Illinois, where it is a summer resident, and where it breeds, but is not abundant. It inhabits old fields, where, perched upon a fence-stake or an old dead tree, it is described as chanting a very delightful song. It was first taken on the 12th of July, 1871, on the road about half-way between Mount Carmel and Olney. The bird was then seen on a fence, and its unfamiliar appearance and fine song at once attracted his notice as he was riding by. As several were heard singing in the same neighborhood, it seemed common in that locality, and as a young bird was taken in its first plumage there is no doubt that it is a regular summer visitant of Southern Illinois, and breeds there. Mr. Ridgway speaks of its song as one of the finest he has ever heard, most resembling the sweet chant of the Field Sparrow, but is stronger, and varied by a clear, high, and very musical strain. He describes its song as resembling the syllables thééééééé-til-lūt, lūt-lūt, the first being a very fine trill pitched in a very high musical key, the last syllable abrupt and metallic in tone.

The food of this species, Dr. Bachman states, consists of the seeds of grasses, and also of coleopterous insects, as well as of a variety of the small berries so abundant in that part of the country. He speaks of its flight as swift, direct, and somewhat protracted, and adds that it is often out of sight before it alights.

Dr. Coues did not meet with this Sparrow in South Carolina, but he was informed by Professor Leconte that it occurs about Columbia and elsewhere in the State, frequenting open pine woods and old dry fields.

Dr. Bryant met with its nest in Florida, April 20. It was similar, in construction, to that of the Savannah Sparrow, and contained five eggs. It was the only Sparrow found by him in the pine barrens near Enterprise, and was only seen occasionally, when it was a very difficult bird to shoot, as it runs round in the grass more like a mouse than a bird, and will not fly until almost trodden on, then moving only a few feet at a time.

The nests of this bird, found by Dr. Bryant in Florida and by Dr. Gerhardt in Northern Georgia, were all placed upon the ground and concealed in tufts of thick grass, and constructed entirely of coarse wiry grasses, with no other lining than this material. The eggs, four in number, are of a pure, almost brilliant white, of a rounded oval shape, and measure .74 by .60 of an inch.

Peucæa æstivalis var. arizonæ, Ridgway

ARIZONA SPARROW

Peucæa cassini, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 486. (Los Nogales specimen.)

Sp. Char. (6,327 ♂, Los Nogales, Northern Sonora, June, C. B. Kennerly.) Similar to P. æstivalis, but paler; wings and tail longer. Above light chestnut, all the feathers margined and tipped with bluish-gray, but the reddish prevailing. Interscapular and crown feathers with a narrow streak of black, those on crown indistinct. Beneath dull white, tinged with ashy-ochraceous across the breast and along the sides; crissum pale ochraceous. An obsolete light superciliary, and narrow dusky maxillary stripe. Bend of wing yellow; lesser coverts tinged with greenish-yellow. Length, 6 inches; wing, 2.65; tail, 3.00; bill, .32 from nostril, .25 deep at base; tarsus, .80; middle toe, .63.

Hab. Los Nogales, Sonora, and Southern Arizona.

This race has a considerable resemblance to P. æstivalis, but differs in some appreciable points. The brown of the upper parts is paler, and the ashy edging to the feathers appears rather less extensive. The dark brown blotches on the back are of greater extent, the black streaks on the back confined to a mere streak along the shaft. There is less of an olive tinge across the breast.

The proportions of the present race differ more from those of æstivalis than do the colors, the bill being more slender, and the wings and tail considerably longer.

The resemblance to P. botterii (= æstivalis, var. botterii) of Sclater, from Middle Mexico (Orizaba, Colima, etc.), is very close; the difference being greater in the proportions than in the colors, the latter having a shorter wing and tail, with thicker bill, as in var. æstivalis. In botterii there is rather a predominance of the black over the rufous in the streaks above.

Habits. This, in its general habits, nesting, eggs, etc., probably resembles the variety æstivalis.

Peucæa cassini, Baird

CASSIN’S SPARROW

Zonotrichia cassini, Woodhouse, Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. VI, April, 1852, 60 (San Antonio). Passerculus cassini, Woodhouse, Sitgreaves’s Rep. Zuñi and Colorado, 1853, 85; Birds, pl. iv. Peucæa cassini, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 485, pl. iv, f. 2.—Heermann, X, c, p. 12, pl. iv, f. 2.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 219 (not from Cal.).

Sp. Char. (6,329 ♂, Texas; compared with type of species.) Ground-color of upper parts grayish-ash; the middle portion of each feather dull brown, in the form of a blotch, and with a black shaft-streak, the latter becoming modified on scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts, into transverse spots, those on the upper tail-coverts being large and conspicuous, and in the form of crescentic spots, the terminal margin of the feathers being lighter ashy in sharp contrast. Middle tail-feathers clear ashy, with a sharply defined shaft-streak of blackish, throwing off obsolete, narrow, transverse bars toward the edge; rest of tail clear dusky-brown, the lateral feather with whole outer web, and margin of the inner, dull white, all, except the intermediate, with a large, abruptly defined, terminal space of dilute brown (decreasing in size from the outer), the margin whitish. Upper secondaries broadly and sharply margined along both edges with dull ashy-white, the enclosed portion being clear dusky brown, intensified where adjoining the whitish. A very obsolete superciliary stripe of ashy, becoming whitish over the lore; auriculars more dingy, but without distinct stripe along upper edge. An uninterrupted but indistinct “bridle” along sides of throat. Lower parts dull white, without any ochraceous, but with a very faint ashy tinge ever the jugulum; flanks with broad, somewhat blended streaks of mixed brownish and dusky. Bend of wing edged with light yellow. Wing, 2.55; tail, 2.80; bill, .28 from nostril and .23 deep; tarsus, .68; middle toe, .55.

Young. (45,277, Laredo, Texas, June 28.) Very similar, but with a few drop-shaped streaks of dark brown on the jugulum and along sides. The feathers above have a more appreciable terminal border of buff.

Hab. Rio Grande region of Southern Middle Province; Kansas, breeding (Allen). San Antonio, Texas, summer (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 489; eggs); ? Orizaba, temp. reg. (Sum. M. B. S. I, 551).

In the Birds of North America, the specimen characterized on p. 637 of the present work as æstivalis, var. arizonæ, was referred to P. cassini, those specimens which are here retained as such being considered as in quite immature plumage. A more recent examination of additional material, however, has compelled us to change our view. In consequence of the similarity of the specimen in question to æstivalis, as noted in the article referred to above, the general acceptation of the name cassini has been that of a term designating a variety of the common species; but we have as the result of the investigation in question found it necessary to retain under the head of “cassini” only the typical specimens from the Rio Grande region, and refer the supposed aberrant specimen to æstivalis. In this Los Nogales specimen we find existing such differences in proportions and colors as are sufficient to warrant our bestowing upon it a new name, and establishing it as the Middle Province race of æstivalis, in this way connecting the South Atlantic and Mexican races (var. æstivalis and var. botterii) by a more similar form than the P. cassini, which must be set apart as an independent form,—in all probability a good species. Several facts are favorable to this view. First, we have of the P. cassini specimens which are beyond question in perfect adult plumage, and others which are undoubtedly immature; they differ from each other only in such respects as would be expected, and agree substantially in other characters, by which they are distinguished from the different styles of æstivalis. Secondly, the region to be filled by a peculiar race of æstivalis is represented by the var. arizonæ, which is undoubtedly referable to that species; thus we have in one province these two different forms, which therefore are probably distinct.

The present bird is hardly less distinct from the races of æstivalis than is ruficeps; and we would be as willing to consider all the definable forms presented in the synopsis as varieties of a single species, as to refer the present bird to æstivalis.

Habits. This Finch, in its general appearance, as well as in respect to habits, nesting, and eggs, is quite similar to Bachman’s Finch. It was first met with by Dr. Woodhouse, in the expedition to the Zuñi River, when he found it in Western Texas. He shot it on the prairies near San Antonio, on the 25th of April, 1851, mistaking it for Passerculus savanna, which, in its habits, it seemed to him very much to resemble, but upon examination it was found to be totally distinct.

Dr. Heermann afterwards, being at Comanche Springs in Texas, had his attention attracted by the new note of a bird unfamiliar to him. It was found, after some observation, to proceed from this species. He describes it as rising with a tremulous motion of its wings some twenty feet or more, and then descending again, in the same manner, to within a few yards of the spot whence it started, and as accompanying its entire flight with a lengthened and pleasing song. The country in that neighborhood is very barren, covered with low stunted bushes, in which the bird takes refuge on being alarmed, gliding rapidly through the grass and shrubbery, and very adroitly and effectually evading its pursuer. He observed them during four or five days of the journey of his party, and after that saw no more of them. They seemed, at the time, to be migrating, though their continued and oft-repeated song also showed that they were not far from readiness for the duties of incubation.

The Peucæa cassini is said, by Mr. Sumichrast, to be a resident species in the valley of Orizaba, in the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico, and to be generally distributed throughout the temperate region of that district. It is very probable, however, that he has in view the Mexican race of P. æstivalis (var. botterii), and not the present species.

Mr. J. A. Allen, who considers this bird only a western form of P. æstivalis, mentions (Am. Naturalist, May, 1872) finding it quite frequently near the streams in Western Kansas, where its sweetly modulated song greets the ear with the first break of dawn, and is again heard at night till the last trace of twilight has disappeared. Mr. Allen also states, in a letter, that this bird was “tolerably common along the streams near Fort Hays, but very retiring, singing mostly after nightfall and before sunrise, during the morning twilight. When singing, it had the habit of rising into the air. I shot three one morning thus singing, when it was so dark I could not find the birds. The one I obtained does not differ appreciably from specimens from Mr. Cassin’s collection, labelled by him Peucæa cassini, collected in Texas.”

Mr. Ridgway regards this record of the manners of this bird, while singing, as indicating a specific difference from P. æstivalis. The latter, in Southern Illinois, has never been heard by him to sing at night, or in the morning, nor even on the wing; but in broad midday, in the hottest days of June, July, and August, he often heard them singing vigorously and sweetly, as they perched upon a fence or a dead tree in a field, exactly after the manner of our common Spizella pusilla.

Among Dr. Heermann’s notes, quoted by Mr. Dresser, is one containing the statement that he found this species not rare on the prairies near the Medina River, in Texas, where it breeds. Mr. Dresser also states that when at Howard’s Ranche, early in May, he found this bird by no means uncommon. He confirms Dr. Heermann’s account, that it is easily distinguished as it rises in the air, from a bush, with a peculiar fluttering motion of the wings, at the same time singing, and then suddenly dropping into the bushes again. He adds that, in his absence, Dr. Heermann procured the eggs of this species on the Medina, and while he was himself travelling in July towards Loredo, he found a nest which he was fully confident belonged to this bird. It was placed in a low bush not above a foot from the ground, and in its construction resembled that of the Poospiza bilineata. The eggs were three in number, pure white, closely agreeing with those taken by Dr. Heermann, and larger and more elongated than those of the bilineata.

An egg of this species, taken in Texas by Dr. H. R. Storer, the identification of which, however, was incomplete, is more oblong than the eggs of P. æstivalis, and smaller, measuring .72 by .58 of an inch. It is pure white also.

Peucæa ruficeps, Baird

RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW

Ammodromus ruficeps, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. VI, Oct. 1852, 184 (California).– Ib. Illust. I, V, 1854, 135, pl. xx. Peucæa ruficeps, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 486.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 218.

Sp. Char. Above brownish-ashy. The crown and nape uniform brownish-chestnut, the interscapular region and neck with the feathers of this color, except around the margins. A superciliary ashy stripe, whiter at the base of the bill. Beneath pale yellowish-brown, or brownish-yellow, darker and more ashy across the breast and on the sides of body; middle of belly and chin lighter; the latter with a well-marked line of black on each side. Edge of wing white. Under tail-coverts more rufous. Legs yellow. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.35; tail, 2.85.

Hab. Coast of California, to Mexico; ? Oaxaca, March (Scl. 1859, 380); ? Vera Cruz, temperate region; resident (Sum. M. B. S. I, 552).

This plainly colored species has the bill rather slender; tail rather long, and considerably rounded; the outer feathers .40 of an inch shorter than the middle; the feathers soft, and rounded at the tip. The wing is short; the primaries not much longer than the tertials; the second, third, fourth, and fifth nearly equal; the first scarcely longer than the secondaries.

There is a blackish tinge on the forehead, separated by a short central line of white, as in Spizella socialis. The eyelids are whitish, and there is a short black line immediately over the upper lid. There is a faint chestnut streak back of the eye. The chestnut of the nape is somewhat interrupted by pale edgings. The blotches on the back melt almost insensibly into the colors of the margins of the feathers. The outer edges of the secondaries and tertials, and the outer surface of the tail, are yellowish-rusty.

This bird is similar in general appearance to the P. æstivalis, but has the head above more continuous chestnut; the black cheek-stripe more distinct, and the edge of wing whitish, not yellow, the bill more slender. A Mexican specimen has a stouter bill.

The P. boucardi of Sclater (= ruficeps, var. boucardi; see table, p. 634), from Mexico, is exceedingly similar, it being very difficult to present the differences in a diagnosis. This trouble is partly the result of the insufficient series at our command, for there are such different combinations of colors, according to the season, that it is almost impossible to select the average characters of two definable forms.

Habits. This species was first described, in 1852, by Mr. Cassin, from a specimen obtained in California by Dr. Heermann. Very little is known as to its history, and it appears to have been generally overlooked by naturalists who have studied the ornithology of that State. The extent of its distribution or of its numbers remains unknown,—a circumstance due undoubtedly to the nature of the country which it frequents.

Dr. Heermann states that in the fall of 1851 he shot on the Cosumnes River a single specimen of this bird from among a large flock of Sparrows of various kinds. In the spring of the following year, among the mountains, near the Calaveras River, he found it quite abundant. It was then flying in pairs, engaged in picking grass-seed from the ground, and when started it never extended its flight beyond a few yards. Its notes, in their character, reminded him of the ditty of our common little Chipping Sparrow (Spizella socialis). He obtained several specimens. Its flight seemed feeble, and when raised from the ground, from which it would not start until almost trodden on, it would fly but a short distance, and almost immediately drop again into the grass.

Dr. Cooper has only met with this species on Catalina Island, in June, where a few kept about the low bushes, feeding on the ground. They were very difficult even to get a sight of. He heard them sing a few musical notes, that reminded him of those of the Cyanospizæ. They flew only a short distance, and in their habits reminded him of the Melospizæ. Their favorite places of resort he supposes to be pine woods, as in the eastern species.

The fact that this species has been found by Mr. Sumichrast to be a permanent resident throughout all the temperate regions of Vera Cruz is a very interesting one, and is suggestive of different manners and habits from those supposed to belong to it as a bird allied with the Ammodrami. They are abundant, and breed there, as in the United States, but nothing is given throwing any positive light upon their general habits.

Genus EMBERNAGRA, Lesson

Embernagra, Lesson, Traité d’Ornith., 1831 (Agassiz). (Type, Saltator viridis, Vieillot.)

Gen. Char. Bill conical, elongated, compressed; the upper outline considerably curved, the lower straight; the commissure slightly concave, and faintly notched at the end. Tarsi lengthened; considerably longer than the middle toe. Outer toe a little longer than the inner, not reaching quite to the base of the middle claw. Hind toe about as long as the middle without its claw. Wings very short, and much rounded; the tertials nearly equal to the primaries; the secondaries a little shorter; the outer four primaries much graduated, even the second shorter than any other quill. The tail is moderate, about as long as the wings, much graduated; the feathers rather narrow, linear, and elliptically rounded at the end; the outer webs more than usually broad in proportion to the inner, being more than one third as wide. The upper parts are olive-green, the under whitish.

The position of this genus is a matter of considerable uncertainty. On some accounts it would be better placed among the Spizinæ.

There are numerous tropical species of this genus; none of them are nearly allied, however, to the single North American species.

Embernagra rufivirgata, Lawrence

TEXAS SPARROW

Embernagra rufivirgata, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. V, May, 1851, 112, pl. v, f. 2 (Texas).—Sclater, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1856, 306.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 487, pl. lv. f. 2.—Ib. Mex. Bound. II, Birds, 16, pl. xvii, f. 2. Zonotrichia plebeja, Licht. Bon. Comptes Rend. 43, 1856, 413.

Embernagra rufivirgata, Lawr.

29229 ♀

Sp. Char. Above uniform olivaceous-green. A stripe on each side of the head, and one behind the eye, dull brownish-rufous, an ashy superciliary stripe whiter anteriorly. Under parts brownish-white, tinged with yellowish posteriorly, and with olivaceous on the sides; white in the middle of the belly. Edge of wing, under coverts, and axillaries bright yellow. Young with the head-stripes obsolete. Length, 5.50; wing, 2.60; tail, 2.70.

Hab. Valley of the Rio Grande, and probably of Gila, southward; Mazatlan, Mexico. Oaxaca, April (Scl. 1859, 380); Cordova; Vera Cruz, temperate and hot regions, breeding (Sum. M. B. S. I, 551); Yucatan (Lawr. IX, 201).

In this species the bill is rather long; the wings are very short, and much rounded; the tertials equal to the primaries; the secondaries rather shorter; the first quill is .65 of an inch shorter than the seventh, which is longest. The tail is short; the lateral feathers much graduated; the outer half an inch shorter than the middle.

All the Mexican specimens before us have the bill stouter than those from the Rio Grande of Texas, the stripes on the head apparently better defined. The back is darker olive; the flanks brighter olive-green, not olive-gray, the wings are apparently shorter. The series is not sufficiently perfect to show other differences, if any exist.

Embernagra rufivirgata.

Habits. In regard to the habits and distribution of this species we are entirely without any information, other than that it has been met with in the valley of the Rio Grande, and at various places in Mexico. Specimens were obtained at New Leon, Mexico, by Lieutenant Couch, and at Ringgold Barracks, in Texas, by Mr. J. H. Clark. The season when these birds were met with is not indicated by him.

It is stated by Mr. Sumichrast that this species is found throughout both the temperate and the hot districts of the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico. He also mentions that he has found this bird in localities quite remote from each other, and belonging both to the hot and to the temperate regions. In the latter it is found to the height of at least four thousand feet.

This species was met with by Mr. Boucard, during the winter months, at Plaza Vicente, in the hot lowlands of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.