30 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



of castaneous. The wliite beneath much tinged with asliy; juguUini-spoLs blended, and 

 of a sepia-brown tint. Wing, 3.00 ; tail, 3.00 ; bill .41 from nostril, and .25 deep at base. 

 Hab. Northwest coast, from British Columbia northward. (Sitk.i.) 



The above characters are those of a large series uf specimens from Sitka, 

 and a few points along the coast to the southward and northward, and 

 represent the average features of a race which is intermediate between 

 (jutlata and insifjnk, in appearance as well as in habitat. Tracing this 

 variety toward the Columbia Eiver, it gi-adually passes into the i'ormer, and 

 uortlnvard into the latter. 



"We ha\-e uo distinctive information relative to the habits of tliis race. 



Melospiza nulodia, var. insignis, B.urd. 



KODIAK SONG SPARKOW. 



t Friiujilla cincrea, Gmelik, I, 178S, 922 (based on Cinereous Finch, Lath. II, 274). — 

 Penn. Arc. Zobl. II, 68 (Unalaschka). Enibcriza cinerca, Bonap. Con.sp. 1850, 478. 

 Melospiza insignis, Baird, Trans. Chicago Acad. I, ii, 1869, p. 319, pi. xxix, flg. 2. — 

 Dai.l & Banni.stkr, do. j). 285. — Fin.sch, Abh. Nat. Ill, 1872, 44 (Kodiak). 



Sp. Char. Summer plumage (52,477 (J, Kodiak, May 24, 1868). Above browni.^h- 

 plumbeous, outer surface of wings somewhat more brown, the greater coverts slightly 

 rufescent. Interscapulars with medial broad but obsolete streaks of sepia-brown ; crown 

 and upper tail-coverts with more sharply defined and narrower dusky shaft-streaks. 

 Crown without medial light line. Beneath grayish-white, much obscured by brownish- 

 plumbeous laterally. A whitish supraloral space, but no appreciable superciliary stripe ; a 

 whitish maxillary stripe ; beneath it an irregular one of dusk)' sepia ; irregular streaks of 

 dark gnzzly-sepia on breast and along sides, blended into a broad crescent across the 

 jugulum. Wing, 3.30; tail, 3.50; bill, .48 from nostril, .28 deep at base, and .21 in the 

 middle, the middle of the culmen being much depressed, its extremity rather abruptly 

 decurved. 



Autumnal plumage (60,162, Kodiak, received from Dr. J. F. Brandt). Differs very 

 remarkably in appearance from the preceding. The pattern of coloration is everywhere 

 plainly plotted, there being a distinct vertical and sharply defined superciliary stripe. 

 G-round-color above ash)', somewhai overlaid b)' rusty, except on the sides of the neck. 

 Whole crown, outer surface of wings, and dorsal streaks, rusty rufous; black streaks on 

 crown and upper tail-coverts obsolete. Beneath pure white medially, the markings rusty 

 rufous. Wing, 3.30 ; tail, 3.60 ; bill, .47 and .30. 



Hab. Kodiak and Unalaschka. 



This race represents the extreme extent of variation in tlie species, and it 

 would be difficult for a species to proceed farther from the normal standard ; 

 indeed, the present bird is so different even in form, especially of bill, from 

 mclodia, that, were it not for the perfect series connecting them, few natural- 

 ists woidd hesitate to place them in different genera. 



H.\BiTS. Xo information has so far l)een iiublislied in reference to the 

 nesting of this Sparrow, or of any jieculiar habits. 



