FRINGILLID.E — THE FINCHES. 539 



Specimens of this race from Sitka are absolutely uudistinguishable from 

 eastern P. savanna except in size ; the colors anil pro})ortion of bill being 

 the same. A young bird (from Kodiak) differs from that of savanna in 

 larger size, and a bright reddish-fulvous tinge to upper parts, and a deep 

 yellowish-fulvous tinge on jugulum and along the sides. 



Habits. This variety is the northwest-coast form of the common Savan- 

 na Sparrow, and is found during the summer from Oregon to Alaska. Dr. 

 Suckley states that he found this species an abundant spring visitor at Fort 

 Steilacoom. Dr. Cooper, in his Zoology of Washington Territory, states it to 

 be only a passenger through that section, migrating northward, at the end of 

 April, in pairs, and not returning until the end of September. They come 

 back in flocks, and frequent the shores and prairies along the sea-coast. Their 

 plumage seems to be the same at all seasons. Nothing is known of their 

 note. They are supposed to spend their winters in Southern Oregon and 

 California, though their actual presence has not been detected in either State. 

 They do not remain during the summer near the Columbia, but pass to the 

 north, or to the interior plains east of the Cascade Range. Dr. Cooper states 

 that their habits closely resemble those of P. anthinus. 



Mr. Dall states that two specimens of this species were taken at Sitka by 

 j\Ir. Bischoff. 



Passerculus savanna, var. anthinus, Bonap. 



CALIFORNIA SHORE SPARROW. 



Passerculus anthinus, Bonap. Comptes Eendiis, XXVII, Dec. 1853, 919, Russian America.^ 

 — Ib. Notes Ornith. Delattre, 1854, 19. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, p. 445.— 

 Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 183. 



Sp. Char. Similar to P. savanna, but smaller. Beneath tinged with reddish. Breast 

 and upper part of belly thickly spotted with sharply defined sagittate brown spots, 

 exhibiting a tendency to aggregation on the middle of the belly. Superciliary stripe and 

 one in the middle of the crown decided greenish-yellow, the head generally tinged with 

 the same, as also the back and sides of the neck. Under tail-coverts somewhat streaked. 

 Length, 5.00; wing, 2.66; tail, 2.24. 



Hab. Coast of California, near San Francisco ; " Russian America, Kodiak " (Boxaparte). 



This is the most strongly marked of the several races of P. savanna, dif- 

 fering from all the others in several important respects. The markings be- 

 neath are more generally dispersed, extending back upon the lower part of 

 the breast, and forward over the throat ; the lower tail-coverts have distinct 

 medial blackish streaks, though they are somewhat concealed. The median 

 stripe on the crown is decidedly greenish-yellow, not pale ashy ; the whitish 

 edges to the interscapular feathers, so conspicuous in the other races, are more 

 concealed, presenting a more uniformly brown surface above, with broader 



1 From the fact that this form is not found in any part of Alaska, nor, indeed, north of Califor- 

 nia, it is probable that the localities of aiUhinus and alaiijdinus were transposed in Bonaparte's 

 original descriptions. 



