NO. 32 BIRDS OF ALEUTIAN ISLANDS BENT 21 



region by his delightful song and cheerful manner, as standing on the 

 top of some little hummock he whistles in joyful greeting or, living up 

 into the air, he charms his mate with his melodious flight song. Fortu- 

 nately these pretty little Longspurs are exceedingly abundant all over 

 the low grassy hills, plains and tundra of all the islands, where they 

 are almost constantly seen and heard ; they undoubtedly outnumber 

 all other land birds. They were mating and breeding all through 

 the month of June ; nests wnth fresh eggs were found as early as 

 June 7, and as late as June 27. The nests were placed on the ground, 

 either in or under the tufts of grass or wild rye, usually in grassy 

 hollows in the lowlands, but sometimes on the hillsides or on the 

 tundra. No young birds were seen on the wing during June, but 

 several nests were found with fledged young. 



PASSERCULUS SANDWICHENSIS SANDWICHENSIS 



Aleutian Savannah Sparrow 



This Sparrow was very abundant on Unalaska Island, even as far 

 west as Chernofski, and on the other islands to the eastward of it, 

 but it was not found on any of the islands to the westward of 

 Unalaska. Its favorite haunts were the low, flat, grassy meadows 

 near the beaches and about the ponds and streams, but it was also 

 found more sparingly on the high tundra and low hillsides. In 

 habits and song it closely resembles the eastern Savannah Sparrow. 

 Only one nest was found, by Mr. Wetmore on June 9, containing 

 four fresh eggs. 



MELOSPIZA MELODIA SANAKA 

 Aleutian Song Sparrow 

 One of the birds peculiar to this region and the most widely variant 

 form of a plastic species is this strikingly large Song Sparrov/. 

 Although so widely different from any of the mainland subspecies, 

 it seems to vary very little among the 800 miles of islands formmg 

 the Aleutian Chain. Only a few Song Sparrows were seen about the 

 vicinity of Dutch Harbor, but they were very abundant at the western 

 end of Unalaska Island near Chernofski. They were fairly common 

 locally on all of the other islands but nowhere abundant. They were 

 strictly littoral in their habits and were confined almost wholly to the 

 steep grassy banks above the beaches or the rocky and grassy valleys 

 near the shore. In such localities we almost always found at least 

 a few of them breeding. Only one nest was found, at Chernofski 

 on June 10, containing four fresh eggs. It was concealed behmd a 

 tuft of grass on a steep grassy bank above the beach. Bemg a 



