song sparrow: pacific insular 1557 



MELOSPIZA MELODIA (Wilson) 



Song Sparrow: Pacific Insular Subspecies* 

 Contributed by Val Nolan Jr. 



Habits 



On each of the San Miguel, San Clemente, Santa Barbara and 

 Coronados Island groups off the California and Baja California 

 coasts lives a sedentary subspecies of the song sparrow. These 

 four races, about, whose life histories not a great deal is known, are 

 treated together here. 



Although the habitats these islands afford are not uniform, in 

 general the birds dwell in a sparsely vegetated environment charac- 

 terized by its aridity. Cover is afforded by herbs and coarse grasses, 

 cacti, and, particularly on San Clemente Island, brush and shrubs. 

 On Los Coronados Islands no fresh water is to be found (Grinnell 

 and Daggett, 1903), and fresh moisture must come only from the 

 condensation of fog. Indeed fog seems to supply most of the moisture 

 needs for all these races (Grinnell and Miller, 1944). 



C. B. Linton (1908) writes that M. m. clementae was abundant on 

 San Clemente. He continues: "Common in the yards at Howland's, 

 nesting in the scrub cacti and vines within a few yards of the hacienda. 

 March 31, three nests were found in the corral near the stables; one 

 contained four young one week old, the others having incomplete 

 sets. These nests were built a few inches from the ground in the 

 center of the cacti beds, which, being covered with a thick growth 

 of vines, completely hid the nests." 



Wright and Snyder (1913) report M. m. graminea occurs on 

 Santa Barbara wherever bushes provide cover, and Grinnell and 

 Miller (1944) add that "Bushes are used for nesting." 



Grinnell and Daggett (1903) visited Los Coronados Islands on 

 Aug. 6 and 7, 1902, and collected the type specimen of coronatorum. 

 The following quotations are from their account of their field work: 



Juvenals were seen along the path * * *. An old and weather-beaten nest 

 was found under a bush. * * * As we landed, an individual was fearlessly 

 hopping close at hand among the boulders almost at the edge of the surf. Most 

 of the Song Sparrows, however, were seen higher up toward the crest of the 

 island, where they were haunting the sparse growth of shrubs on the shaded 

 northeast slope. We saw no trace of fresh water anywhere, and the scanty 

 vegetation presented anything but an inviting appearance. Yet here we heard 

 the familiar notes and full song of these birds which on the mainland keep so close 

 to verdant water courses and damp lowlands. The Rock Wren, always a bird 



*The following subspecies are discussed in this section: Melospiza melodia 

 micronyx Grinnell, M. m. clementae Town^end, M. m. graminea Townsend, and 

 M. m. coronatorum Grinnell and Daggett. 



