SONG SPARROW: ALASKAN 1537 



M. m. kenaiensis: Kidgway (1901) states that this race is smaller 

 and browner than insignis with the streaks on the chest and elsewhere 

 darker. It is intermediate between kenaiensis and caurina, being 

 larger with the upper parts more uniform in color and less streaked 

 than caurina. "Young, much resembling * * * insignis but more 

 heavily streaked below; much paler and browner above than young 

 of * * * caurina, with streaks on back much narrower, those on 

 chest, etc., much browner." 



M. m. caurina: This subspecies is intermediate between kenaiensis 

 and rufina, which is a sooty brown form of the outer islands of Alaska 

 and British Columbia. Caurina "is smaller and darker, with the 

 streaks more distinct on the back [than kenaiensis], whereas it has a 

 longer bill and grayer coloration than rufina" (Gabrielson and Lincoln, 

 1951). 



Food. — Although the song sparrows of Alaska eat seeds when they 

 are available, Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) note that they take a 

 considerable amount of small marine life, particularly in western 

 Alaska, "Gabrielson has seen them picking up small mollusks or 

 crustaceans as well as such seeds and berries as may be found close to 

 the water line." Reported food items are beach fleas, crowberries, 

 seeds of wild rye grass, and "many of the smaller alpine and tundra 

 plants that grow close to the water's edge." The birds also undoubt- 

 edly eat insects. G. M. Sutton and R. S. Wilson (1946) state that 

 maxima on Attu in February and March feeds on tidal flats side by side 

 with rock sandpipers. A specimen examined smelled like the sand- 

 pipers and had eaten tiny snails. Swarth (1912) quotes Allen Hassel- 

 borg as saying that winter song sparrows around Juneau were very 

 fat and had masses of unrecognized slimy matter in their stomachs, 

 food that had been gathered on the beaches. 



Behavior. — Ornithologists familiar with song sparrows in other 

 environments will find the beachcombing habit of the Alaskan races 

 of special interest. Thus Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) state that 

 "the Song Sparrows most frequently seen at Seward * * * are those 

 that live along the beach and under the main dock of that town. On 

 the west side of the Kenai Peninsula, [they] * * * are usually seen 

 only around the wharves and waterfronts of * * * towns * * *. 

 From Kodiak west through the Aleutians and the other islands * * * 

 it is most frequently seen as a beach bird which, when disturbed, flies 

 up into the rocks or disappears into the openings of a talus slope." 

 The same authors state that the birds of southeastern Alaska, pre- 

 sumably inexpectata, rufina, and perhaps caurina, are sometimes found 

 in the same bushy habitats, including ornamental shrubs around 

 buildings, frequented by more southern races. The behavior of such 

 birds is correspondingly like that of the southern forms. 



