1524 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part 3 



* * * clearer, sweeter, more powerful. * * * I could not believe 

 [it] was a song sparrow until I had the bird in my hand." 



No differences between the reproductive cycle oijuddi and olmelodia 

 and euphonia are apparent in Roberts (1936) and other literature. 

 Beer and his colleagues (1956) state that on the small islands in Bass- 

 wood Lake, Minn., "Nesting, while normally on the ground, may take 

 place in holes in trees or in small evergreens as much as seven feet 

 off the ground where there are not suitable open areas." 



Roberts describes an interesting instance of predation on a nest by a 

 garter snake which suddenly appeared, and seized and made off with a 

 newly hatched nestling "in spite of a vigorous attack by one of the 

 parents. When pursued the snake quickly swallowed the tiny nest- 

 ling." Roberts opened the snake (a gravid female) and found a 

 second song sparrow nestling in it. As garter snakes are common in 

 the nesting habitat of song sparrows, the episode was probably 

 typical. 



L. B. Bishop (1896) described juddi as being similar to the race 

 presently known as M. m. melodia, "but with the ground color of the 

 upper parts paler, especially the superciliary streak and sides of neck, 

 and the white of the lower parts clearer; the interscapulars with the 

 black center broader, the reddish-brown portions narrower, and the 

 gray edgings paler; the dark markings on the breast restricted, and 

 more sharply defined against the ground color." 



Distribution 



Range. — Northeastern British Columbia, southern Mackenzie, 

 northern Manitoba, and northern Ontario south to southern Texas, 

 the Gulf coast, and central Florida. 



Breeding range. — The Dakota song sparrow breeds from north- 

 eastern British Columbia (near Peace River), central southern 

 Mackenzie (Great Slave Lake), northern Saskatchewan (Lake Atha- 

 baska), northern Manitoba (Knee Lake; casual at Churchill), and 

 northern Ontario (Fort Severn, Attawapiskat Post) south through 

 the plains of Alberta (Grand Prairie, Calgary, Milk River) and 

 eastern Montana (Miles City) to northern Nebraska (Sioux County, 

 Dakota City), northwestern Iowa, southern Minnesota, extreme 

 northwestern Michigan (Baraga County), and southwestern Ontario 

 (Amyot) ; casual in southern Nebraska (Red Cloud) . 



Winter range. — Winters from southeastern Montana (Miles City), 

 South Dakota (Yankton), and southern Minnesota (Cambridge) 

 south and east to western and southern Texas (Fort Davis, Boquillas, 

 Del Rio; Atascosa County; Longview), Louisiana (Lake Charles), 

 southern Mississippi (Petit Bois Island), Georgia (Ila, Tifton), 



