138 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



named and recognized allies. Mr. Frazar's specimens appear to represent two 

 forms, — a small, slender-billed one which I take to be typical alaudinus, and 

 a decidedly larger bird, which has a bill nearly as stout as that of savanna. 



Mr. Frazar found the Western Savanna Sparrow in winter at La Paz in 

 autumn at Santiago and San Jose del Cabo. At the locality last named his first 

 specimen was taken on August 27. During the next three weeks it was rather 

 comuion, frequenting wet, grassy places. Mr. Bryant mentions seeing it only 

 at San Jorge, where a few birds were observed in April. Mr. Anthony states 

 that "a few winter about the base of San Pedro [Martir]." ^ 



This subspecies occurs almost everywhere along the Pacific coast from north- 

 western Alaska to southern Mexico, breeding from California northward. 



Ammodramus rostratus Cass. 

 Large-billed Sparrow. 



Passerculus rostratus Cooper, Orn. Cal., 1870, 184 (Cape St. Lucas). Baird, 

 Brewer, and Ridgway, Hist. N. Amer. Birds, I. 1874, 642, 543 (crit ; 

 Cape St. Lucas). Belding, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V. 1883, 537 (Cape 

 Region). Ridgway, Ibid., 537-539 (crit. ; La Paz ; Cape St. Lucas). 



Ammodramus rostratus Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889, 299 (San 

 Jose' del Cabo; La Paz; Cape St. Lucas, and other localities). 



Although the Large-billed Sparrow is not mentioned in Mr. Frazar's notes, 

 he must have found it in considerable numbers, for his collection contains no 

 less than fifty-five skins, of which four were obtained at La Paz in January 

 and February, sixteen at Carmen Island in early March, and thirty-five at San 

 Jose del Cabo at various dates between August 31 and November 9. All the 

 specimens thus far collected in the Cape Region have been taken in autumn, 

 winter, or early spring. Indeed, there is no present evidence that the bird 

 breeds anywhere in Lower California. Mr. Bryant met with it only in Feb- 

 ruary, 1888, when a few were found " among the bushes on the sand hills near 

 Magdalena village," and Mr. Anthony does not seem to have seen it at all. 

 According to Dr. Cooper, it is found abundantly at all seasons at San Diego 

 and San Pedro, California. At the latter place he " saw them, in July, feeding 

 their young." 2 Mr. Belding, referring to this statement, says, " I could not 

 find the species about San Diego Bay or False Bay in April and May, 1881, 

 nor in April and May of the years 1884 and 1885, in the latter year having 

 followed the coast nearly fifty miles north of San Diego without finding it. I 

 last saw it at San Diego, March 10, 1884. Its nesting places and nesting habits 

 are still unknown." ^ 



I have two specimens of A. rostratus taken at Guaymas on the western 

 coast of Mexico. 



1 Zee, IV. 1893, 240. 



2 Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Hist. N. Amer. Birds, I. 1874, 543. 



8 Occ. Papers Calif. Acad. Sci., IL, Land Birds Pacif. District, 1890, 145, 146. 



