1492 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 3 



and to maintain the integrity of three contributed accounts, Margaret 

 M. Nice's summary of her seminal study of euphonia, Richard F. 

 Johnston's report of his investigation of samuelis, and Robert W. 

 Dickerman's account oijallax. 



(2) When two or more geographically proximate and ecologically 

 similar subspecies are believed not to differ in the essentials of their 

 life histories, they are sometimes grouped and information about them 

 is pooled or is otherwise generalized, as indicated. 



(3) When published studies have treated some aspect of the species 

 as a whole rather than of subspecies, e.g., its food habits or its moles- 

 tation by the cowbird, these results are presented under the first 

 subspecific history, i.e., of the nominate race M. m. melodia, which 

 also includes data that cannot be referred to subspecies and material 

 that appears to be of general applicability. 



Thus, the life history of M. m. melodia is to a degree broadly de- 

 scriptive of the species. Mrs. Nice's treatment of euphonia, on the 

 other hand, contains a wealth of detail about a small population of a 

 widely distributed migratory race. Dr. Johnston's life history of 

 samuelis treats in similar detail a rather specialized, sedentary race 

 with a very limited range. For a general view of the song sparrow 

 and its "wonderful adaptability" (Taverner, 1934), therefore, the 

 reader might wish to consult the life histories of the races just men- 

 tioned, as well as the accounts of the races grouped as "Alaskan song 

 sparrows" and "Pacific insular song sparrows." Finally, M, m. 

 rivularis might be referred to as an example of the several subspecies 

 inhabiting the deserts of the United States and Mexico. 



MELOSPIZA MELODIA MELODIA (Wilson) 



Eastern Song Sparrow 



PLATE 75 



Contributed by Val Nolan Jr. 



Habits 



The breeding song sparrow of eastern Canada and of the United 

 States west to the Appalachians displays the typical preference of 

 this species for moist ground and for a low, irregular, dense plant 

 configuration considerably exposed to the sun. "No land bird seems 

 more fond of water," writes E. H. Forbush (1929). Everywhere it 

 is "primarily a bird of the lower lands * * *" (Knight, 1908), along 

 the banks of streams, the brushy shores of ponds, and in shrubby wet 

 meadows or cattail swamps. Even on the central Atlantic coast, 

 where the race atlantica replaces the present subspecies on the beaches, 



