BIRDS OF SOUTHERN VERACRUZ — WETMORE 339 



3, and 13, 1939, and January 23, 1940; from Tlacotalpam, February 

 5, 1940 ; and from El Conejo, February 12, 1940. On their wintering 

 grounds these sparrows seem completely at home, and here in Mexico 

 I was able to appreciate fully the statements of E. A. Preble that 

 this species is the song sparrow of the far north. Since boyhood I 

 have been familiar with Lincoln's sparrow as a migrant, and in east- 

 ern Kansas in fall I have seen many hundreds of them, but at Tres 

 Zapotes in less than two months I actually learned more of their 

 mannerisms than in 35 years of previous observation. Here instead 

 of being shy skulkers that never left the dense shelter of weeds and 

 shrubbery, their habit in migration, they came out like song spar- 

 rows to feed around the borders of the little clearing that we had 

 made about our camp. At any time of the day if all was peaceful 

 I had only to raise my eyes to see one or two feeding quietly on the 

 ground, sometimes only 15 feet away. They pecked steadily at the 

 earth, often scratching in typical finch fashion by jumping forward 

 and then back, dragging the forward claws on the earth on the re- 

 turn, and then feeding again in the soil disturbed by this action. 

 Others remained under the thin screen of leaves of the bordering 

 shrubbery, and sometimes I found them running along on the earth 

 in the protecting shelter of cornfields. When alarmed they retreated 

 instantly to cover, where sometimes I heard them scolding sharply, 

 the notes being suggestive of those of the swamp sparrow. I saw 

 one driving petulantly at a little blue-black grassquit (Volatinia 

 joxarina atronitem) that came too near. At dusk sometimes several 

 came down from a weed grown field back of camp to roost in or near 

 dense clumps of bushes. The daily appearance of this bird is to 

 me one of the many pleasant memories of my work in this interest- 

 ing locality. 



On March 30 there was sudden increase in their number, evidence of 

 migration from farther south, as on that morning half a dozen came 

 skipping about on the ground in our clearing. They were passing 

 in increased numbers through the early days in April and were still 

 present on April 15, when I left for return home. 



After examination of considerable material it appears to me that 

 the present species can be separated into two races, lincolnii and 

 gracilis, but that the additional form named by Miller and McCabe 

 from the mountain area of the Rocky Mountains of the United States 

 and other western mountains 80 cannot be separated successfully from 

 lincolnii. Some specimens from this area have very slightly longer 

 wings and tails than specimens from the east and north, but others 



80 Melospiza lincolnii alticola A. H. Miller and T. T. McCabe, Condor, 1935, p. 156 (Bluff 

 Lake, San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, Calif.). 



