FRINGILLID^ — THE FINCHES. 19 



b. Streaks, above and below, not sharply defined, and without black 

 medially. 



Above rufescent-olive, the darker shades castaneous ; streaks be- 

 neath castaneous-rufous. Wing, 2.60 ; tail, 2.50 ; bill, .35 and .23. 

 Hab. Pacific Province from British Columbia, southward . -vav. y^lttata. 



Above sepia-plumbeous, the darker shades fuliginous-sepia ; 

 streaks beneath fuliginous-sepia. Wing, 3.00; tail, 3.00 ; bill, .41 

 and .25. Hah. Pacific Province from British Columbia northward. 



var. rufina. 

 Above plumbeous, the darker markings dull reddish-sepia in 

 winter, clove-brown in siimmer ; streaks beneath castaneous-rufous 

 in winter, dull sepia in summer. Wing, 3.40 ; tail, 3.60 ; bill, .50 

 and .30. Hah. Pacific coast of Alaska (Kodiak, etc.) . var. insignis. 



2. M. lineolni. White of the lower parts interrutped by a broad pectoral 

 band of bud'; streaks on the jugulum, etc., narrow linear. A vertex and 

 superciliary stripe of ashy ; a maxillary one of buff. Wing, 2.60 ; tail, 2.40 ; 

 bill, .30 and .25. Hah. Whole of North America ; south, in winter, to 

 Panama. 



B* Lower parts without streaks (except in young.) 



3. M. palustris. Jugulum and nape tinged with ashy ; outer surface of 

 . wings bright castaneous, in strong contrast with the olivaceous of the back; 



dorsal streaks broad, black, without rufous extei'nally ; a superciliary and 

 maxillary stripe of ashy. ^. Crown uniform chestnut, forehead black. 9* 

 Crown similar, but divided by an indistinct ashy stripe, and more or less 

 streaked with black (autumnal or winter ^ similar). Juv. Head, back, 

 and jugulum streaked with black on a yellowish-white ground ; black pre- 

 vailing on the crown. Hah. Eastern Province of North America. 



Melospiza melodia, Baird. 



SONG SPARROW. 



Fringilla melodia, Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 125, pi. xvi, f. 4. — Licht. Verz. 1823, 

 No. 249. —AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 126; V, 507, pi. 25. —Ib. Syn. 1839, 120.— 

 Ib. Birds Am. Ill, 1841, 147, pi. clxxxix. — Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 275. ZonotricUa 

 melodia, Bon. List, 1838. — Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 478. ?? Fringilla fasciata, Gmelin, 

 Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 922. — Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 562. ?? Fringilla 

 hyemalis, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 922. Melospiza melodia, Baikd, Birds N. Am. 

 18.58, 477. — Samuels, 321. 



Sp. Char. General tint of upper parts rufous and distinctly streaked with rufous-brown, 

 dark-brown, and ashy-gray. The crown is rufous, with a superciliary and median stripe of 

 dull gray, the former lighter ; nearly white anteriorly, where it sometimes has a faint 

 shade of yellow, principally in autumn ; each feather of the crown with a narrow streak 

 of black forming about six narrow lines. Interscapulars black in the centre, then rufous, 

 then pale grayish on the margin, these three colors on each feather very sharply con- 

 trasted. Rump grayer than upper tail-coverts, both with obsolete dark streaks. There is 



middle toe without claw, .68. This may possibly be the M. pectoralis of von Miiller. The de- 

 scription cited above, however, does not agi-ee with the specimen under consideration. The pec- 

 toral spots are expressly stated to be brown, not even a black shaft-streak being mentioned, 

 whereas the pure black spots of the specimen before us render it peculiar in this respect, being, 

 in fact, its chief characteristic. 



