MERRILL'S SONG SPARROW 1529 



Distribution 



Range. — Southeastern Alaska and southern Yukon south to northern 

 Oregon. 



Breeding range. — The yellowhead song sparrow breeds from the 

 coast and inner islands of southeastern Alaska (Glacier Bay, Ad- 

 miralty Island, Revillagigedo Island), southern Yukon (Squanga 

 Lake), and northwestern British Columbia (Atlin, rarely) southeast 

 through interior British Columbia to lat. 51° N. (Horse Lake, Yellow- 

 head Pass) and the mountains of southwestern Alberta (Henry House, 

 Banff). 



Winter range. — Winters from southern British Columbia (Comox, 

 Alta Lake, Okanagan Landing) south through Washington to northern 

 Oregon (Portland, Prineville); casually north to Caribou district, 

 British Columbia (Indianpoint Lake). 



MELOSPIZA MELODIA MERRILLI Brewster 



Merrill's Song Sparrow 



Contributed by Val Nolan Jr. 



Habits 



This migratory race breeds in the interior of the three northwestern 

 states adjoining Canada and of the two southwestern provinces of the 

 latter country. As is true of so many other subspecies of Melospiza 

 melodia, individuals can be found in winter in locations virtually 

 throughout the breeding range, while others migrate, in the case of 

 this race, to the southwestern United States. Descriptions of the 

 habitat would be generally applicable to those of most of the other 

 inland subspecies: tangles of willows, cottonwood, and alder; open, 

 sedge-grown, brushy meadows; hawthorn brush bordering clearings; 

 and lakeside marshy associations. H. J. Rust (1919) tells of seeing 

 these birds hopping from pad to pad of water lilies and wading into 

 shallow water "reminding one of the Water Ouzel except in color." 

 At the opposite extreme, they occur in Washington, possibly as breed- 

 ers, in brush succeeding deforestation at altitudes of 4,000 feet (Jewett 

 et al., 1953). James C. Merrill (1898), for whom the bird is named, 

 states, "There is nothing in their general habits to distinguish them 

 from the Song Sparrows in other parts of the country," but he notes 

 their very marked preference for the immediate vicinity of water in 

 the type locality, Fort Sherman, Idaho. 



Spring. — Rust (1919) believed birds that wintered near Fernan 

 Lake, Idaho, to be principally old males, and these started to sing on 

 sunny February days. Females began to join males in mid-March, 



646-737— GS—pt. 3 19 



