A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 2. Robert Ridgway

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СКАЧАТЬ 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, BairdSAMUELS’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, BairdOREGON 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 СКАЧАТЬ