BIRDS — FRINGILLIDAE MELOSPIZA GOULDII. 



479 



Althougli it is very difficult to express the characters of this sparrow hy an absolute diagnosis, 

 yet it will most probably prove permanently and specifically diiferent from the more northern 

 and typical guttata. The latter appears to be a northern species, several of the specimens 

 having been collected on the Columbia river and northward in January and February, and con- 

 sequently winter residents, while the locality of the other at Tejon Pass is nearly twelve degrees 

 (or more than eight hundred miles) further south, with no intermediate localities recorded. 



After carefully considering the circumstances of the case, I have come to the conclusion that 

 the species is worthy of specific sej^aration, and have accordingly named it Melospiza heermanni, 

 after its accomplished collector and discoverer. 



Since writing the preceding article, I have had the opportunity of examining a large collection 

 of this same species made at Fort Tejon by Mr. De Vesey, and am still better satisfied of its claim 

 to a specific separation. A spring bird has the spots on the breast and sides entirely black, 

 without any rufous edging, as is also the case with those on the back. The feet are larger and 

 the claws longer than in melodia. The tail feathers are much darker, and the tints above, 

 instead of being light rufous, are decidedly grayish olivaceous. The differences from rufina 

 consist in the much stouter and thicker bill, and the very distinct dark, usually black, streaks, 

 instead of rufous brown. 



The colors of the winter specimens have the usual soft blended appearance peculiar to this 

 season, but the spots still retain their well defined blackness, with only a slight tendency to 

 passing externally into dark rufous. 



List of specimens. 



MELOSPIZA GOULDII, Baird. 



Sp Ch. — Similar to M. melodia, still more so to Jtf. heermanni, but very much smaller. Breast and sides conspicuously 

 streaked with black ; back and head above distinctly streaked. Length, 4.70 ; wing, 2.10 ; tail, 2.38. 

 Hab. — California. 



In a collection of birds presented by Mr. John Gould to the Smithsonian Institution is a 

 perfectly adult specimen (No. 8053) marked " California," which has a certain resemblance to 

 the song sparrow, but diifers in being very much smaller, much less, in fact, than any other 

 known species of the group. The difference in size is much greater than is usually allowed to 

 exist in the same species. The wing measures only 2.10 inches, or less than in Ammodromus 

 samuelis. 



The bill is a little more slender than in melodia, the legs much the same size, the wings and 

 tail much shorter. The sides of the throat and body with the breast are distinctly streaked with 

 black, which has a slightly rufous sufl'usion externally. The black streaks on the back are also 

 well defined as in Al. heermanni. The bill and feet are nearly as large as in this si^ecies, but 

 the wings and tail are very much shorter. This disproportion of feet, with the difference in 



