268 Bird -Lore 



The last one noted at Badger, Nebr., was on September 28, 1899; Rapid 

 City, S. D., average October i, latest October 2, 191 1; Yuma, Colo, (near), 

 average September 13, latest September 21, 1891, and Carrizozo, N. M., 

 October 28, 1902. 



SHARPE'S SEEDEATER 



The principal home of Sharpe's Seedeater is in northeastern Mexico, but 

 some individuals migrate north in summer to the lower Rio Grande Valley 

 of Texas, and at this season the species is fairly common locally in Cameron 

 and Hidalgo Counties. It arrives on the average near Brownsville, March 18, 

 earliest February 21, 1880, and may occasionally winter, as one was taken 

 January 30. 1S80 at Brownsville. 



Notes on the Plumage of North American Sparrows 



TWENTY-EIGHTH PAPER 

 By FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



(See Frontispiece) 



Sharpe's Seedeater {Sporophila morelletisharpei, Figs, i, 2). — The plumages 

 of this little Seedeater are still a puzzle to ornithologists. In southern Mexico 

 and southward, the adult male has a jet-black back and broad black breast- 

 band, but in northeastern Mexico and the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas, 

 no specimen of this kind has been taken, and our plate (Fig. i) shows as mature 

 a male as is known from this region. It is because of this difference in the 

 plumage that a northern race of the bird has been described; but whether 

 in this northern bird the back and breast never become black, or whether as 

 yet a fully adult male has not been found, is an open question. In my opinion, 

 the first-named condition is correct; in other words, Sharpe's Seedeater never 

 has the back and breast-band wholly black. Consequently, in its fully adult 

 plumage it resembles the southern race of this species {i.e. Morellet's Seed- 

 eater) in immature plumage. 



The case is unusual and doubtless requires further investigation. In the 

 meantime, I have not the material for a satisfactory study of this Seedeater's 

 plumage changes. The case is complicated by the impossibility of determining 

 whether winter specimens from southern Mexico are residents or migrants 

 from the North. 



Lark Bunting {Calamospiza melanocorys, Figs. 3-5). — It is difficult to 

 explain under any theory of protective coloration, the relation between the 

 plumage and the haunts of the male Lark Bunting. Conspicuous in color, 

 and action, it inhabits the open plains where cover is scant and where one 

 might well imagine it was exposed to such enemies as it may possess. The 

 female, however, is in a high degree protectively colored; and, indeed, it is 



