240 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.86 



Waynesboro taken on May 14 is somewhat intermediate toward 

 arenacea but is decidedly nearer to pusilla. 



SPIZELLA PUSILLA ARENACEA Chadbourne: Western Field Sparrow 



There are three specimens in the collection that may be ascribed 

 to this race, a female taken at Hickory Withe, April 15, and two 

 immature birds, male and female, from 7 miles northeast of Tipton- 

 ville taken on October 22. The two last are probably migrants, as 

 a male taken near Hornbeak on May 3 is the eastern form. It will 

 be recalled that a female from near Waynesboro while identified as 

 the eastern form is somewhat intermediate. 



The identification of these western Tennessee specimens has come 

 as the result of speculation and study as to the identity of the western 

 field sparrow that began more than 30 years ago with skins that I 

 obtained in southeastern Kansas. In brief summary, Spizella pusilla 

 arenacea is marked by the very pale brown of the markings of the 

 upper surface, gray predominating, wuth little or no bright chestnut, 

 the restriction of the brown on the crown which usually has a gray 

 median band, the light margins on the secondaries, the narrowed 

 black lines on the back, and the grayish white on the lower surface, 

 which has a suffusion of buffy broAvn on the breast in fall and 

 winter only. This type of coloration finds its highest expression in 

 the Great Plains area in birds from such widely separated localities 

 as Medora, N. Dak., Fort Pierre, S. Dak., and San Angelo, Tex., 

 in which the crown in summer is largely or almost wholly gray. 

 These Great Plains specimens have the wing, tail, and tarsus actu- 

 ally, as well as on the average, very slightly longer than specimens 

 from the East. Measurements are as follows: Males (10 specimens), 

 wing 67-70, tail 65-72, tarsus 17.5-21.1; females (2 specimens), wing 

 60.5-64.0, tail 62.^63.0, tarsus 17.7-17.8 mm. 



Spizella pusilla pusilla is extensively brown above, with bright 

 brown predominating in the coloration of the upper surface, the black 

 streakings of the back broad and heavj^, the lighter areas on rump 

 and shoulder darker in tone, ordinarily brownish gray, the margins 

 on the secondaries darker, more rufescent, and a suffusion of pinkish 

 buff on the breast that is indicated even in worn breeding plumage. 

 Measurements are as follows : Males, wing 59.7-65, tail 58-65, tarsus 

 17.2-18.5 ; females, wing 59.4-62.7, tail 54.3-62.2, tarsus 17.2-18.2 mm. 

 (These measurements are in part those made for Mr. Ridgway and in 

 part from specimens measured recently for or by me.) Birds of this 

 type of coloration and with these dimensions are found from southern 

 <iuebec to the Carolinas and west to Ohio, West Virginia, central 

 Tennessee, and Mississippi. 



