FINCHES 



53 



Sacramento and San Joaquin basin. It is 

 smaller than the type species and darker and 

 browner in coloration. 



The San Diego Song Sparrow ( Mclospica iiic- 

 lodia coopcri) is slightly smaller than Heer- 

 mann's Song Sparrow ; the prevailing color of 

 the back is a grayish-olive broadly streaked with 

 black. It lives in the southern coast district of 

 California and the northern Pacific coast district 

 of Lower California. 



On the San Clemente, San Miguel, and Santa 

 Rosa islands, California, is fo.und the San Cle- 

 mente Song Sparrow (Mclospiza iiiclodia cle- 

 mentcc) ; it is larger than the San Diego Song 

 Sparrow and grayer in coloration, the back being 

 a light olive-gray with narrower black streaks. 



The Santa Barbara Song Sparrow ( Mclospisa 

 melodia graminca) found on the Santa Barbara 

 and Santa Cruz islands, California, is like the 

 San Clemente in color but smaller in size. 



Samuels's Song Sparrow {Mclospica iiiclodia 

 saiiiuclis) is exactly like Heermann's Song 

 Sparrow in color but in size it is much smaller 

 and its bill is more slender. It is found on the 

 coast slope of central California, except in the 

 salt-water marshes of San Francisco Bay, from 

 Santa Cruz County to Humboldt County. 



Similar in size and proportions to Samuels's 

 Song Sparrow but very different in coloration 

 is the Mendocino Song Sparrow (McIospi::a 

 melodia clcoiicusis) of the northern coast district 

 of California and southwestern Oregon; its .gen- 

 eral color is more reddish, the upper parts being 

 a deep rusty olive, conspicuously and broadlv 

 streaked with dark rusty-brown, or chestnut, and 



black ; tlie streaks on the chest are also dark 

 rusty-brown or chestnut. 



The Rusty Song .Sparrow ( Mclospica melodia 

 morphna) breeds from the extreme southern 

 portion of Alaska through British Columbia to 

 western Oregon and in winter it travels south to 

 southern California. It is larger than the Men- 

 docino Song Sparrow but its coloration is simi- 

 lar, the rusty brown or chestnut streaks on the 

 hack being less strongly contrasted with the rusty 

 olive ground color. 



In southern Alaska, on the coast and the islands 

 off the coast is the home of the Sooty Song 

 Sparrow ( Mclospiaa melodia nifina). In winter 

 it comes south to the coast of British Columbia, 

 Vancouver Island, and northwestern ^^'^ashing- 

 ton. It is larger than the Rusty Song Sparrow 

 ;ind darker — sootv rather than rusty. 



Four other Alaskan Song Sparrows are the 

 Yakutat (Mclospiza melodia eaurina), the Kenai 

 { Melospi::a me'lodia kemiiensis), the Kodiak, or 

 Bischofif's (Melospiza melodia insignis). and the 

 Aleutian (Melospiza melodia sanaka). The 

 Yakutat is a little larger than the Sooty, the 

 Kenai is larger than the Yakutat, and the Kodiak 

 and Aleutian are still larger. All are graver in 

 coloration. 



The food of this species varies considerably. 

 About three-fourths of its diet consists of the 

 seeds of noxious weeds and one-fourth of in- 

 sects. Of these, beetles, especially weevils, con- 

 stitute the major portion. Ants, wasps, bugs 

 (including the black olive scale), and caterpil- 

 lars are also eaten. Grasshoppers are taken by 

 the eastern bird, but not by the western ones. 



LINCOLN'S SPARROW 



Melospiza lincolni lincolni (Audubon) 



.\. O, V Xumbcr -8? See lolor Plate 84 



Other Names. — Lincoln's Song Sparrow: Lincoln's 

 Finch. 



General Description. — Length. sH inclies. Upper 

 parts, brown and olive, streaked with black ; under 

 parts, buff and white, streaked with black. Wings, 

 short and rounded: tail, about the length of wing, 

 rounded or double-rounded, the feathers narrow and 

 blunt. 



Color. — Adults: Crown, light mummy-brown, 

 conspicuously streaked with black and divided by a 

 center stripe of olive-grayish; hindneck. back, shoulders, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts, light olive or buffy olive 

 sharply streaked with black, the streaks broadest on 



back : outer surface of wings, more rusty brownish 

 especially on innermost greater coverts and secondaries : 

 the greater coverts and inner wing-quills conspicuously 

 blackish centrally: tail, light grayish brown; sides of 

 neck grayish or olive-grayish ; ear region similar, but 

 rather darker or browner; cheek region, space behind 

 ear. broad band across chest, sides, flanks, and under 

 tail-coverts buffy ; the chest, sides, flanks, and under 

 tail-cover! s streaked zvith black; rest of the under 

 parts white, the throat usuallv flecked or streaked with 

 black. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On ground, in marshy 

 land; constructed entirely of grass, lined with finer 



