25 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



of their nests. One was in a willow, close against the tree, and three feet 

 from the ground, containing, on the 11th of May, four eggs partially hatched. 

 This was Luilt of coarse dry stems and leaves, lined with finer grasses and 

 liorse-hair. It was live inches in external diameter, and four high. The 

 cavity was two and a half inches deep and two in diameter. These eggs 

 had a ground of greenish-white, and were blotclied and spotted with a 

 purplish-brown, chietly at the larger end. They were .82 by .62 of an inch 

 in measurement. The ground-color was paler and the spots were darker 

 than in eggs of Z. gamheli, the whole coloring much darker than in those of 

 M. fallax. This nest was apparently an old one used for a second brood. 



Another nest found as late as July 10, and doubtless a second brood, was 

 in a thicket, six feet from tlie ground, and also contained four eggs. Dr. 

 Cooper states that he has seen the newly fledged young by the 7th of May. 



Dr. Heermann, in his account of this bird, which he supposed to be the 

 guttata of Dr. Gambel, states that he found it abundant throughout the 

 wliole country over which he passed, and more especially so in the bushes 

 bordering the streams, ponds, and marshes. Its notes, sweet, and few in 

 number, resembled those of the common Song Sparrow. Its nests, usually 

 built in thick tufts of bushes, were composed externally of grasses and lined 

 with hair, and contained each four eggs, with a pale bluish-ash ground, 

 thickly covered with dashes of burnt umber. Eggs of this species, from near 

 Monterey, collected by Dr. Canfield, vary in measurement from .85 by .65 of 

 an inch to .88 by .70, — larger than any eggs of Melosinza mclodia that I have 

 seen. Their ground-color is a light green. The blotches are large, distinct, 

 and more or less confluent, and of a blended reddish and purplish brown. 

 They are in some diffused over the entire egg, in others disposed around the 

 larger end. 



Melospiza melodia, var. samuelis, Baird. 



SAMUELS' S SONG SPARROW. 



Ammodromus samuelis, Baird, Pr. Boston See. N. H. VI, June, 1858, 381. — Ib. Birds 

 N. Am. 1858, 455, pi. Ixxi, f. 1. — Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 191. Melospiza gouldi, 

 Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 479. 



Sp. Char. Somewhat like Melospiza melodia, but considerably smaller and darker. 

 Bill slender and acute, the depth not more than half the culmen. Above streaked on 

 the head, back, and rump Avith dark brown, the borders of the feathers paler, but without 

 any rufous. Beneath pure white ; the breast, with sides of throat and body, spotted and 

 streaked with black, apparently farther back than on other species. Wings above nearly 

 uniform dark brownish-rufous. Under tail-coverts yellowish-brown, conspicuously 

 blotched with blackish. An ashy superciliary stripe, becoming nearly white to the bill, 

 and a whitish maxillary one below which is a broad blackish stripe along the sides of 

 neck; the crown with faint grayish median line. Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.20; tail, 

 2.35. Bill dusky ; legs rather pale. Bill, .35 from nostril by .24 deep ; tarsus, .71 ; middle 

 toe without claw, .58. (5,553 $, Petaluma, Cal.) 



Hab Coast region of California, near San Francisco. 



