FRINaiLLID.E — TIIE FINCHES. 



19 



6. Streaks, aliove and below, not sharply (lefnied, anil without black 

 medially. 



Above rufescent-olive, the darker shades oastaneous ; streaks be- 

 neath ca.staueous-rufous. Wing, 2.G0 ; tail, 2.50 ; bill, .35 and .23. 

 Hab. Pacific Province from Briti.«h Columbia, southward . \m: guttata. 



Above sepia-plunibeous, the darker shades fuliginous-sepia ; 

 streaks beneath fuliginous-sepia. Wing, 3.00; tail, 3.00 ; bill, .41 

 and .25. Hah. Pacific Province from BritLsh Columbia northward. 



var. )• n/i n a . 

 Above plumbeous, the darker markings dull reddish-sepia in 

 winter, clove-brown in summer ; streaks beneath castaneous-rufous 

 in winter, dull sepia in summer. Wing, 3.40 ; tail, 3. GO ; bill, .50 

 and .30. Hab. Pacific coast of Alaska (Kodiak, etc.) . var. insignis. 



2. M. lincolni. White of the lower parts interrutped by a broad pectoral 

 band of bud'; streaks on the jugulum, etc., narrow linear. A vertex and 

 superciliary scripe of ashy ; a maxillary one of buff. Wing, 2.60 ; tail, 2.40 ; 

 bill, .30 and .25. Hab. Whole of North America ; south, in winter, to 

 Panama. 



Lower parts without streaks (except in young.) 



3. M. palustris. .Jugulum and nape tinged with ashy ; outer surface of 

 wings bright casianeous, in strong contrast with the olivaceous of the back ; 

 dorsal streaks bruad, black, without rufous e.xternally ; a superciliary and 

 maxillary stripe of ashy. ^. Crown uniform chestnut, forehead black. ?. 

 Crown similar, but divided by an indistinct ashy stripe, and more or less 

 streaked with black (autumnal or winter ^ similar). Jnv. Head, back, 

 and jugulum streaked with black on a yellowish-white ground; black pre- 

 vailing on the crown. Sab. Eastern Province of North America. 



Melospiza melodia, Baird. 



SONG SPARROW. 



Fringilla melodia, Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 125, pi. xvi, f. 4. — Lioht. Verz. 1823, 

 No. 219. —AuD. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 126; V, 507, pi. 25. —Ib. Syn. 1839, 120.— 

 IB. Birds Am. Ill, 1841, 147, pi. clxxxix. — Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 275. Zmwtrichia 

 melodia, Bon. List, 1838. — Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 478. / / Fringilla fasdala, Gmelin, 

 Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 922. — Nutt.ill, Man. I, (2d cd.,) 1840, 562. ? f Frinrjilla 

 hyonalis, Gmelix, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 922. Melospiza melodia, Baiud, Birds N. Am. 

 1858, 477' — Samuels, 321. 



Sp. Char. General tint of upper parts rufous and distinctly streaked with rufous-brown, 

 dark-brown, and ashy-gray. The crown is rufous, with a superciliary and median stripe of 

 dull gray, the former lighter ; nearly white anteriorly, where it sometimes has a faint 

 shade of yellow, principally in autumn ; each feather of the crown with a narrow streak 

 of black forming about six narrow lines. Interscapulars black in the centre, then rufous, 

 then pale grayish on the margin, these three colors on each feather very sharply con- 

 trasted. Rump grayer than upper tail-co\erts, both with obsolete dark streaks. There is 



middle toe without claw, .68. This may possitily be the M. pcdoralis of von Miiller. The de- 

 scription cited above, however, does not agree with the specimen under consideration. The pec- 

 toral spots are expressly stated to be brown, not even a black shaft-streak being mentioned, 

 whereas the pure black spots of the specimen before us render it peculiar in this respect, being, 

 in fact, its chief characteristic. 



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