112 THE WESTERN S.W WXA SPARROW. 



General Range. — Eastern North America breeding from the northern 

 United States to Labrador and the Hudson Bay country; casual( ?) in the 

 Western United States. 



Range in Washington. — Im])crfectly made out : many birds resident on 

 West-side behoved to he of this form. 



Authorities. — Bowles and Dawson, .\uk, \'oL XXV. Oct. igo8, p. 483. 



Specimens. — Bowles, Tacoma, April 28, 1907 (4). 



SOME specimens we get on Puget Sound are no larger than t\-pical 

 ll'cstciii Savanna, but are more strongly and brightiv colored — handsome 

 enough to be saiidc^'iclicusis proper. Are these rrsaturated forms the bleached 

 alaiidiinis, so long resident in the wet country as to be now reassuming 

 the discarded tints of old? Are they, rather, intergrades between P. s. sand- 

 ■zuicliensis and P. s. alaudiuns. theoretically resident on the lower Sound and 

 in B. C. ? Or are they casual overflows of true savanna, ignorant of our 

 western metes and bounds? I do not know. Tweedledum or tweedledee? 

 Here is a fine problem for the man with a gun, to whom a new subspecies 

 is more than the lives of a thousand innocents. But I disclaim all responsi- 

 bility in the matter. 



No. 43. 



WESTERN SAVANNA SPARROW. 



A. O. U. No. 542b. Passerciilus sandwichensis alaiidinus (Bonap.). 



Sjnonym. — Gr.\y S-wannah Sparrow. 



Description. — Similar to P. s. savanna but decidedly paler and grayer; less 

 bay or none in edging of feathers of upperparts ; yellow of superciliary stripe 

 usually paler, sometimes nearly white ; bill longer and relatively weaker. Other 

 dimensions about as in P. s. savanna. 



Recognition Marks. — As in preceding — paler. 



Nesting. — Nest: in grassy meadow, of dried grasses settled deeply into dead 

 grass or, rarely, into ground. Eggs: 4 or 5, grayish white to light bluish green, 

 profusely dotted or spotted and blotched with varying shades of brown and 

 slate, sometimes so heavily as to conceal the ground color. Av. size, .75 x .55 

 (19X 13.97). Season: third week in ^lay ; one brood. 



General Range. — Western North America from the eastern border of the 

 Great Plains breeding from the plateau of Mexico to northwestern Alaska; in 

 winter south to Lower California and Guatemala. 



Range in Washington. — Both sides of the Cascades in low-lying meadows. 

 Perhaps sparingly resident in winter on West-side. 



