Vol. 30, pp. 95-96 May 23, 1917 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



THE PORTO RICAN GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. 

 BY JAMES L. PETERS. 



Ridgway, in 1901, t gave the range of Ammodramus savanna- 

 rum savannarum as "Jamaica and Porto Rico, resident; and 

 according to Hartert the islands of Curasao and Bonaire . . . " 

 Since that time Hartert has described! Ammodramus s. caribaeus 

 from Curacao and Bonaire, and A. s. intricatus§ from Santo 

 Domingo. Wetmore, in his report on the Birds of Porto Rico, II 

 referred specimens of A. savannarum from that island to the 

 Haytian race. 



While collecting in Porto Rico for the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology in the winter of 1916-17, I secured a small series 

 of the resident Grasshopper Sparrow, and have been able to 

 compare it with the series I collected during the previous winter 

 in Santo Domingo. This study proves that the Porto Rican bird 

 belongs to a hitherto undescribed race, which, instead of being 

 closest to A. s. intricatus, is much more like A. s. savannarum 

 in appearance, the latter hereby restricted to Jamaica. 



The resident form of the Grasshopper Sparrow found in Porto 

 Rico I propose to call 



Ammodramus savannarum borinquensis, subsp. nov. 



Type, No. 80,493, collection Museum of Comparative Zoology, adult 

 male, Cabo Rojo, Porto Rico, February 5, 1917, James L. Peters. (Orig. 

 No. 2009.) 



Similar to A. s. savannarum (Gmelin), but averaging smaller; crown 



* Published by permission of the Director of the Museum of Comparative Zo61ogy. 



+ Bull. 50, U. S. Nat. Mus.. Part I (p. 206). 



t Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, 19, 1907 (pp. 92-94). 



$Nov. Zool., IX, 1902 (p. 298). 



II Bull. 326, U. S. Dept. Agr., 1916 (p. 127). 



23— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 30, 1917. (95) 



