PASSERCULUS. . 381 
Passerculus savanna, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 131‘; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 534°; 
Sennett, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. v. p. 390°. 
Passerculus alaudinus, Bp. Compt. Rend. xxxvii. p. 9187; Baird, Mex. Bound. Surv. ii., Birds, 
p- 158; Scl. P. Z.S. 1858, p. 308°; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1860, p. 398°; Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 
p- 487; Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 552”. 
Passerculus savanna var. alaudinus Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. ‘p. 537 *; Lawr. Bull. 
U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 21”. 
Passerculus sandvicensis alaudinus, Coues, Key N. Am. B. ed. 2, p. 368”. 
Supra fuscus, plumis singulis medialiter nigris, vertice medio fere immaculato, superciliis a naribus pallide 
flavidis, stria per oculos indistincte nigra; alis et cauda fusco-nigris pallide fusco limbatis; subtus albus, 
cervicis lateribus, pectore et hypochondriis nigro guttulatis ; rostro corneo, mandibula pallida, pedibus 
carneis. Long. tota 5:0, ale 2°8, caudex 2:1, rostri a rictu 0°5, tarsi 0° 75. (Descr, exempl. ex Duenas, 
Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Nortu America generally ?° 18, Texas 6 11.—Mexico 4, Tamaulipas (Cowch 8), Vera 
Cruz (Sumichrast 1), La Parada (Boucard®), Tehuantepec city (Sumichrast ') ; 
GuaTEMALA, Duefias !°, Coban, Peten, Retalhuleu (0. 8. & F. D. G.). 
The North American specimens of this Finch were at one time divided into several 
species which have since been reduced to races, and these again, so far as we can see, 
should be merged into one variable form, at least so far as P. sandwichensis is concerned 
and its immediate forms P. savanna and P. alaudinus. P. anthinus of the coast of 
California, with its darker back and more heavily spotted breast, we think, may prove 
to be distinct, but our materials are not sufficient to form a definite opinion, and the 
question does not immediately concern the present work. P. rostratus and P. princeps 
~ appear to be quite distinct. 
The characters by which the races of P. sandwichensis have been divided are almost 
wholly of size, strength of bill, and length of wing, but their dimensions overlap. The 
wing of a specimen from Guatemala is as long as another from Onalaska though the 
bill is much smaller. Moreover there seems to be no portion of the continent of 
North America unoccupied by this Sparrow, and the evidence that its varied forms 
blend into one another by insensible steps seems complete. We note, however, that 
the birds of the Western and Middle States and those of Mexico have, on an average, 
smaller, more delicate bills than those of the Eastern States, and still more than those 
of the high north, the true P. sandwichensis. 
Though apparently resident in Texas, Mr. Sennett having observed it as late as May 
at Lomita in the Rio Grande valley °, it seems it is doubtful whether it is more than a 
winter visitor to Mexico and Guatemala; Sumichrast !* gives it as such in the State of 
Vera Cruz, and other authorities record its presence between the months of November 
and March. It is apparently absent from Western Mexico until we reach the State of 
Oaxaca and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; in Guatemala it is pretty generally distributed 
but nowhere numerous, frequenting low shrubs on the banks of streams and lakes, 
The nest is described ° as always sunk in the ground and loosely constructed of dry 
