538 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



ritoiy, where they arrived in March, and remained until late in October. 

 They were usually found among the grass, from wliich they rarely rise, 

 except to sing their faint and lisping trill from a weed or some low bush. 

 Mr. Piidgway represents this song as corresponding with the syllables ivitz- 

 witz-2rih'-tzidl. This, he states, is uttered in a weak and lisping manner, as 

 the bird perches on a bush beside the brook, or on a fence, or as it nestles 

 among the grass on the ground. 



Dr. Cooper speaks of them as only winter visitants in California, and 

 there residing only on the dry interior plains, as far south as San Diego, 

 where they remain in large flocks until April. He has never met with 

 this bird during the summer months, though some are supposed to remain 

 and breed in the high prairies. He did not meet with any about the sum- 

 mits of the Sierra Nevada, in September. They appeared to prefer the dry 

 rolling prairies to marshes, though they were occasionally found in the 

 latter. 



This species is also a migratory visitant to the Department of Vera Cruz, 

 Mexico, where they are said by Sumichrast to pass the winter. 



Their nests are built upon the ground, and are composed almost entirely 

 of the dry stems of grasses, and are lined with finer materials of the same. 

 Their eggs measure .75 of an inch in length by .52 in breadth, have a 

 greenish-white ground, over which are distributed numerous markings, spots, 

 and blotches of various sizes, of a light purplish-brown and a deeper red- 

 brown, confluent about the larger end, where they form a crown. 



Near Fort Anderson nests were found in great numl)ers, no less than two 

 hundred and four having been obtained during four summers in that locality. 

 These nests were all taken on the ground, under low grass, in dry spots in 

 a large marshy prairie, and it is stated that they were never found in any 

 other situation or locality. 



Passerculus savanna, var. sandwichensis, Baird. 



NORTHWESTERN SAVANNA SPARROW. 



Embcriza sandwicJiensis, Gm. I, 1788, 875. Emberiza arctica, Latham, Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 

 414. Fringilla arctica. Vigors, Zobl. of Blossom, 1839, 20 (perhaps one of the smaller 

 species). — " Brandt, Icon. Ross. 2, 6." Euspiza arctica, Bp. Con.spectus, 1850, 469. 

 Zonotrichia arctica, Finsch, 1872. Emberiza chrysops, Pallas, Zoog. Rosso-As. II, 

 1811, 45, tab. xlviii, fig. 1 (Unalaska). Sandicich Buntinrj, Lath. Syn. II, 1783, 202. 

 Unalaska Bunting, Pennant, Arctic Zobl. II, 363, 320, No. 229 (not of p. 364, No. 

 233). Passerculus sandwichensis, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 444. — Dall & Bannis- 

 ter, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 284. — Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 180. Passerculus savanna, 

 Dall & Bannister, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 283. 



Sp. Char. Almost exactly like P. savanna, but half an inch longer, with much larger 

 bill. Length, 6.12 inches; wing, 3,00; tail, 2.55. Bill above, .50; below, .36; gape, .56; 

 depth, .27. 



Hab. Northwestern coast from the Columbia River to Russian America. 



