1528 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 v&we 3 



this race also includes much of interior British Columbia and reaches 

 into the mountains of Alberta. This distribution and a difference 

 in its nesting ecology are responsible for the separation of this life his- 

 tory of inexpectata from the combined account of most other sub- 

 species that occur in Alaska. 



Both on the breeding and the winter ranges, which do not overlap, 

 this race seems to prefer a marshy or brushy habitat like those, for 

 example, of melodia or juddi. George Willett (1928) writes that in- 

 expectata occurs in southeastern Alaska in inland locations several 

 miles from salt water. "Nests * * * found at Ketchikan were often 

 placed several feet up in trees." Apparently nests were built near 

 the ocean, as well, for the same writer found a nest "inside a roll of 

 wire netting that was lying just above the high tide line." Harry S. 

 Swarth (1922) found this song sparrow in relatively few places in the 

 upper Stikine River valley in British Columbia, but near one tribu- 

 tary creek and in the marshy meadows a mile or so back from the 

 river it was abundant. Between July 8 and 26, 1921, Swarth con- 

 sidered full grown young more numerous than adults; the latter were 

 apparently engaged in tending second broods, many probably still in 

 the nest. The adults were very shy and stayed in the nesting areas, 

 which were sloughs grown up with reeds and surrounded by willows. 

 By mid-July, the presumed first-brood young were spreading farther 

 and farther from the marshes and down the river. Another example 

 of the dispersal of young from the breeding habitats is Swarth's 

 collection of juveniles between July 26 and August 8 in fireweed 

 patches near Flood Glacier where no suitable nesting areas were 

 observed. 



Swarth (1924) reported that on the Skeena River near Hazel ton, 

 British Columbia, this song sparrow found little suitable habitat 

 and nested only in scattered pairs along small streams. Nesting 

 seemed in progress on May 26, and a young bird was seen being fed 

 by an adult as late as Aug. 29. Most birds had left by the third 

 week of September. Swarth found no song sparrows nesting in the 

 mountains. 



Jewett et al. (1953) describe the winter habitat in western Washing- 

 ton as "alder brush and berry tangles of second-growth localities, as 

 well as brush along roadsides and in partly cleared places." 



J. H. Riley (1911) described inexpectata as being "similar to Melo- 

 spiza melodia rufina, but the browns of the upper parts lacking the 

 reddish tinge, thus giving to the back a gray cast; below not so heavily 

 streaked; averaging smaller." 



