382 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



(?) Melospiza Uneohu i^triata Brewster, Auk, vi, Apr. (pub. Jan. 31), 1889, 89 

 (Comox, British Columbia; coll. W. Brewster). — American Ornithologists' 

 Union Commhtee, Auk, vii, 1890, 63.— Fannin, Check List Birds Brit. 

 Col., 1891, 37 (Comox).— Rhoads, Auk, x, 1893, 21 (Vancouver I., etc., British 

 Columbia; crit.); Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1893, 51 (do.). — Ridgway, 

 Man. N. Am. Birds, 2d ed., 1896, 605. 



{?)Melospiza Hncolnii striata American Ornithologists' Union, Check List, 2d 

 ed., 1895, no. 583a. 



MELOSPIZA GEORGIANA (Latham). 

 SWAMP SPARROW. 



Adults {sexes alike). — Forehead black, divided \)\ a more or less dis- 

 tinct median line of grayish or whitish; crown chestnut, sometimes 

 more or less streaked with blackish; occiput blackish laterall3% gra}'- 

 ish medially; back and scapulars light brown ])roadly streaked with 

 black, some of the interscapulars broadh^ edged with dull buti'y; rump 

 olive-brownish, more or less ' streaked with dusky; upper tail-coverts 

 more rusty brown, distinct!}" streaked with black; tail rusty brown, 

 the median pair of rectrices with a narrow median stripe of dusky: 

 exposed surface of greater wing-coverts and secondaries chestnut, the 

 concealed median portion black or dusky: tertials black, edged on outer 

 webs with chestnut and butiy; broad superciliary stripe, sides of neck, 

 and hindneck gray, the last more or less streaked or clouded with 

 brown and dusky: auricular region more brownish gray, or light 

 brownish, margined above by a distinct postocular streak of black 

 and chestnut and beneath b}' a narrower (sometimes indistinct) rictal 

 streak of the same; malar region pale grayish or grayish white, usually 

 margined below b}^ a narrow, usually broken, suljmalar streak of 

 dusky; chin, throat, and abdomen white, or graj'ish white; chest light 

 gray or brownish gray, sometimes narrowly and indistinctly streaked 

 with dusk}"; sides and tianks (especially the latter) tawny brown; under 

 tail-coverts buffy with central marks of dusky. 



hnmatui^e hii'ds {in second year?). — Similar to fully adult birds, as 

 described above, but without the chestnut crown-patch, the pileum 

 being brown, divided by a narrow median line of olive-grayish and 

 broadly streaked with black. ^ 



Young hi first autumn and vnnter. — Similar to supposed young in 

 second year, as described above, but with the head more or less tinged 

 with yellowish (especially on supraloral and malar regions) and the 



^ It is possible that some adult females never assume the chestnut crown-patch, a 

 majority of spring specimens of that sex being in the plumage described above. 

 That the chestnut crown-patch is not a seasonal character is proven liy specimens, of 

 both sexes, thus marked, which were obtained in autumn and winter. 



Winter adults are more richly colored than those obtained in spring and summer, 

 but are otherwise similar. 



