everywhere, especially on the brush-covered fields 

 on the southern part of the mesa (Grinnell 1897). 

 They were abundant residents on Santa Barbara on 

 first of May 1908, and at times were "fairly 

 swarming" in short scrub (Howell 1917), abun- 

 dant residents on the island in 1911 (Willett 

 1933); permanent residents, abundant, but no 

 year given (Grinnell and Miller 1944). By 1967, 

 the subspecies was extinct according to Kenneth 

 Baker, National Park Service (pers. comm. to 

 Chnton Lostetter, FWS 1972). Monitoring of all 

 land birds by means of periodic searches of all 

 parts of Santa Barbara Island from 15 May to 23 

 July 1972 failed to produce sight or sound of a 

 song sparrow (George L. Hunt, Jr. pers. comm. 

 1972). No trace of song sparrows was found on 

 the isleind by diligent search by Small and Hender- 

 son from 13 to 17 May 1974, despite open condi- 

 tion of land that made it easy to observe any bird 

 present. A song sparrow sighting on the island by 

 Robert DeLong on 19 August 1967 may be the 

 last record of the subspecies (Small and Hender- 

 son 1974). Records of single song sparrows in 

 1972 and 1973 by George Hunt, Jr. were thought 

 by him to be migrants of other races from the 

 mainland, since they were associated with waves 

 of migrant landbirds (Small and Henderson 1974). 



REPRODUCTION 



Nest containing 2 eggs, advanced in incuba- 

 tion, were found 16 June 1911. At that date most 

 of the young were already full grown (Willett 

 1912 and 1933). In mid-May 1897, fuU-grovm 

 juveniles were numerous, more so than adults, 

 which were all apparently engaged in nest build- 

 ing or raising second broods. From 3 to 5 eggs 

 were laid per set. Five sets averaging 3.8 eggs each 

 were secured on May 14 and 15. Eggs averaged 

 0.61 X 0.78 in (15.5 x 19.8 mm), with extremes 

 of 0.70 to 0.82 in (17.8 - 20.8 mm) in length and 

 0.57 to 0.64 in (14.5 - 16.3 mm) in diameter 

 (GrinneU 1897). 



MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION 



It is now too late to manage for this species, 

 but the example may be useful in planning habi- 

 tat restoration and management to prevent ex- 

 tinction of other wildlife species on Santa Bar- 

 bara Island. The Santa Barbara song sparrow is 

 protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and 

 by the National Monument status of the island, 



under the National Park Service. 



AUTHORITIES 



George Hunt, Jr. 

 U. of Calif. 

 Irvine, Calif. 



Kenneth Baker 

 Nat. Park Service 



John Small 



Point Reyes Bird Observatory 



R. P. Henderson 



Point Reyes Bird Observatory 



PREPARER'S COMMENTS 



The evidence seems conclusive that the subspe- 

 cies of song sparrow that bred on Santa Barbara Is- 

 land (M. m. graminea) is now extinct and that 

 song sparrows observed on the island from time 

 to time are probably migrants from other breed- 

 ing areas. 



LITERATURE CITED 



American Ornithologists Union. 1957. Check-list 

 of North American Birds, 5th Edition. Balti- 

 more, Md., Amer. Omith. Union. 



Grinnell, J. 1897. Report on the birds recorded 

 during a visit to the islands of Santa Barbara, 

 San Nicholas and San Clemente in spring of 

 1897. Pasadena Academy of Sciences Pub. 

 1:1-21(6). 



Grinnell, J. 1928. The Song Sparrow of San 

 Miguel Island, California. Proc. Biol. Soc. 

 Wash. 41:37-38. 



Grinnell, J., and A. H. Miller. 1944. The distribu- 

 tion of the birds of California. Pac. Coast 

 Avifauna 27:608 pp. (554). 



Howell, A. B. 1917. Birds of the islands off the 

 coast of southern California. Pac. Coast Avi- 

 fauna 12:1-127(80). 



Van Rossem, A. J. 1924. A survey of the Song 

 Sparrows of Santa Barbara Islands. Condor 

 26:217-220. 



Philbrick, P. N. 1972. The plants of Santa Barbara 

 Island, California. Madrono 21:329-393. 



