362 SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSERES — OSCINES 



jijirts grayish-brown, witli blackiyli rufous-cdged centres of the feathers; median crown-stripe 

 not strong, and scarcely yellowish ; a whitish superciliary stripe, not yellow anteriorly ; ear- 

 coverts grayish, with a rufous tinge. Scapulars, coverts and secondaries blackish -brown, 

 broadly edged with rufous, brightest on the secondaries ; scapulars also edged with white, and 

 both median and greater coverts white-tipped. Tail brownish, tipped and edged with whitish. 

 Whole under parts white, breast and sides of throat and body streaked, the streaks dusky- 

 centred, rufous-edged. Bill dark brown, base of under mandible paler ; eyes and feet brown. 

 Length 6.30 ; extent 11.00 ; wing 3.25 ; tail 2.00 ; bill 0.45 ; tarsus 0.95 ; middle toe and 

 claw 1.05 ; hind toe and claw 0.72. (Foregoing condensed from original description of the 

 type, taken in winter. Following as redescribed by Ridgway.) Bill of size and shape as in 

 P. bairdi exactly ; inner secondaries little lengthened. Outstretched feet not reaching to end 

 < if tail. In color almost exactly as in P. rostratus, but different in markings ; above light 

 ashy, the dorsal feathers light sandy-brown centrally, their shafts black. Surface of wings pale 

 sandy-brown, the feathers darker- centred ; inner secondaries with whitish outer webs, and con- 

 spicuous black central field. Crown becoming darker brown anteriorly, where an indistinct 

 median line of ochrey- white ; an indistinct superciliary stripe, and conspicuous maxillary stripe 

 of the same, the latter bordered above by a narrow dusky stripe; lores and cheeks like the 

 superciliary stripe ; auriculars like crown. Below, white, slightly ashy on flanks ; wdiole breast 

 and sides of body with narrow streaks of blackish-centred sandy-brown ; belly, crissum, and 

 lining of wings immaculate ; throat with a few minute specks, but on each side a bridle of 

 suffuse streaks. 9: wing 2.90 ; tail 2.40 ; culmenO.50; tarsus 0.85. (Following notes taken 

 by me of a specimen received from Maynard; 9; Ipswich, Oct. 18, 1872: No. 73,553, Mus. 

 S. I.) " About size of largest P. sandvicensis from Alaska. No trace of yellow on head or 

 wing. Upper parts even paler and grayer than extreme of P. alaudinus from the West — the 

 streaks of upper parts having only shaft-lines of blackish-brown, brown-edged, the edges 

 of the feathers finally gray ; nape, rump, and upper tail-coverts gray, scarcely streaked at 

 all. Crown streaked like interscapulars, but in smaller pattern ; divided by a median light 

 line. A long whitish (not yellowish) superciliary line ; lore gray below this. Inner second- 

 aries and greater coverts blackish, broadly edged on outer webs with bay, fading to whitish at 

 tips ; median coverts similar, but more noticeably whitish -tipped ; these edgings of wing- 

 feathers making the strongest coloration of all the upper parts. Below, white ; throat and 

 middle of belly only immaculate, flanks a little shaded with gray ; whole breast, sides of neck 

 and body, and crissum, with bro\vn streaks, pale in comparison with those of P. savana, 

 and rather suffuse. On the sides of head below auriculars the stripes tend to form two chains 

 — a maxillary one and another above it separated by an immaculate interval. Resembles P. 

 rostratus in diffuse grayish coloration and lack of yellow on head or wing. Looks as a hybrid 

 between P. savana and Pooecetes might be supposed to do." Seems distinct, but not firmly estab- 

 lished as a species. Coast of New England, especially sand-hills of the Massachusetts coast ; 

 general range unknown ; perhaps a local race. Curiously similar in some respects to the 

 ('alifornian litoral form P. rostratus. 

 aae. p. sandvicen'sls. (Of the Sandwich, one of the Aleutian Islands.) Similar to the ordinary 

 savanna sparrow: averaging in size about the maximum of the latter: length about 6.00 ; wing 

 3.00; tail 2.25 ; culmen 0.45 ; depth of bill at base 0.25; tarsus, and middle toe and claw, 

 each, 0.80. Bill nearly t^vice as bulky as that of ordinary savana. A firm bright yeUow super- 

 ciliary stripe from nostril to eye, thence fading over auriculars (i. e., chnjsops, Pall.) Under 

 parts precisely as in savana; upper similar, but grayer— less rufous and more gray in the 

 edgings of the feathers. Such are the peculiarities of a specimen from the very spot whence 

 Latham and Pennant describe their bird ; they are appreciable on laying the skin alongside a 

 large varying series of Eastern savana. Alaska. But it does not follow that aU the Alaskan 

 and Aleutian savanna sparrows arc like this. 



