702 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 pabt 2 



under a matted screen of long, snow-bent grass stems. The nests are 

 made of frost-ripened grass straws usually free from paleae, glumes, 

 and panicles, and have a lining closely interwoven of finer grasses 

 with the occasional addition of curled dog hair. Not once was a 

 foreign feather found in the nest of this species. 



Although Brandt first recorded the species on May 18, not until 

 June 4 did he observe a nest. New-laid clutches were noted as late 

 as June 21. Of 15 nests examined, 9 contained six eggs each, and 6 

 contained five eggs each. 



R. Rausch (1958) describes the nesting of anthinus on Middleton 

 Island, south of Prince William Sound, Alaska, where he found it 

 most numerous on the drier upper terraces of the "Upland Meadow," 

 particularly on the highest terrace where Calamagrostis nutkaensis 

 was abundant. A nest containing five eggs was found June 5. On 

 June 25 the birds were feeding young, most of which had fledged. 

 Fully feathered young were collected on June 25 and 26. This 

 sparrow was also quite numerous in the "Lowland Marsh," containing 

 freshwater ponds and appropriate vegetation, and brackish ponds. 

 The sparrows favored especially the shrubby willows along the east 

 side of the marsh. 



J. C. Howell (1948) found this Savannah sparrow common in the 

 moist, grassy areas of Kodiak Island (the type locality for the race), 

 both in the valleys and on the slopes of the mountains up to about 

 1500 feet. Arriving there in late April 1944, he first recorded the 

 species, three birds all in song, at Middle Bay on May 9. A nest 

 he found there June 9 containing five fresh eggs was in a tussock 

 of grass in an open swampy area over which stood a few inches of 

 water. Another nest, on the slope of "The Old Woman" at an altitude 

 of about 1500 feet, held four eggs, about half incubated, on June 17. 



K. Racey (1948) stated that anthinus was numerous from Ava- 

 lanche Valley in the Alta Lake region of British Columbia toward 

 the main peak of Mt. Whistler, between 5,800 and 7,000 feet altitude. 

 A breeding female was collected on Mt. Whistler on June 25, 1924, 

 at an altitude of 5,800 feet, and young female was taken at 6,650 feet 

 on Aug. 28, 1932. 



Eggs. — The measurements of 67 eggs average 18.8 by 14.2 milli- 

 meters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 21.8 by 14.6, 

 20.3 by 15.2, 17.5 by 13.7, and 18.9 by 12.7 millimeters. 



Phimage. — J. L. Peters and L. Griscom (1938) diagnose P. s. 

 anthinus (formerly alaudinus) as a medium sized Savannah sparrow 

 with slender bill, its depth at base averaging less than half the length 

 of the culmen. In spring, the general coloration above either with 

 black and brown or gray and brown predominating, but whitish 

 edgings of the scapulars always narrow, and more or less washed with 



