Field Notes 105 



It is not known which form Is the local breeder, as unfortu- 

 nately no specimens of breeding birds are at hand to determine 

 this point. Very likely some future reviser of the Long-billed 

 Marsh Wrens may work out more accurately the breeding ranges 

 of the several subspecies, and may possibly separate our Nebraska 

 " palustris " from the palustris defined by Ridgway. 



Myron H. Swknk. 



Lincoln, Nebraska. 



THE SUBSPECIES OF NEBRASKA SAVANNAH SPARROWS 



Nebraska ornithologists have recognized since 1896 that two 

 subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow migrated through the state, 

 but there has been much confusion as to the distribution of the 

 two subspecies, due largely to faulty identifications. 



In 1904 the data at hand was interpreted to indicate that P. s. 

 savanna was an abundant migrant over eastern Nebraska, west to 

 about the 99th meridian, arriving in late March or early April, 

 mostly passing northward to breed, but occasionally to be seen in 

 the state during the summer and possibly breeding, and again mi- 

 grating through eastern Nebraska in October; while P. s. alaudinus 

 was regarded as migrating over the entire state and possibly breed- 

 ing westwardly, its dates being about the same as those of P. s. 

 savanna (Prelim. Rev. Birds Nebraska, pp. 85-86). 



In 1910, however, Dr. Joseph Grinnell divided the former sub- 

 species alaudinus, restricting that name to the birds breeding in 

 " the vast interior of northwestern North America, from Bering 

 Sea and Kotzebue Sound to the Mackenzie region," while the birds 

 breeding in the Great Basin he named P. s. nevadensis (Univ. Cal. 

 Pubs. Zoology, v. pp. 311-318). This subspecies was accepted by 

 the A. 0. U. Committee in 1912. In 1915 Dr. L. B. Bishop showed 

 that the birds breeding in North Dakota and wintering in Texas 

 were also nevadensis (Condor, xvii, pp. 186-187). This led to the 

 suspicion, which was confirmed by a study of specimens, that prob- 

 ably the birds we had been calling alaudinus were really nevadensis. 



To make the point certain, a series of skins was sent to Dr. H. 

 C. Oberholser for naming. In this series were sixteen skins from 

 southeastern Nebraska, mostly from the vicinity of Lincoln, and 

 of these Dr. Oberholser returned two marked savanna and four- 

 teen marked nevadensis. In our entire series of twenty-nine speci- 

 mens from eastern Nebraska, five are savanna and twenty-four 

 nevadensis. This proportion may be regarded as representing fairly 

 accurately the relative abundance of these two subspecies during 

 migrations along the 97th meridian In Nebraska. The dates on 

 the specimens of nevadensis are March 22, April 5, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24 

 and 28, May 1, September 10 and 14, October 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 

 19 and November 2, there being two with dates October 10, 16 and 

 19 and three with the date October 14. The five specimens of 



