PASSERES— FRINGILLIDAE— PEUCAEA EUFICEPS. 



289 



is softer and more prolonged, and in a lower kej. Though little varied, 

 and on this account somewhat monotonous, it yet possesses an indescribable 

 sweetness and pathos, especially when heard, as is often the case, during the still 

 hours of the night. During a night's march from Camp Grant to Camp Bowie, 

 I do not think an interval of five minutes passed unbroken by the song of 

 one of these sparrows. Ere fairly out of hearing of the notes of one per- 

 former, the same plaintive strain was taken up by another invisible musician 

 a little farther on, and so it continued till just before dawn. During the 

 night, I am inclined to think, they sing entirely from their perches, remaining 

 stationary. They were found to be most numerous on the dry plains, covered 

 with a growth of short grass, interspersed with small shrubs and bushes. 



PEUCAEA EUFICEPS (Cuss.). 



Ammodromus rvficeps, Cass., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila., vi, Oct., 1852, 184 (Cali- 

 fornia).— Ueerm., P. E. E. Eep., X, pt. ii, 185'J, 49. 



Pcucwa ruficeps, Bd., Birds N. A., 1858, 4SG.— Cooper, Birds Cal., 1870, 218.— CouES, 

 Key N. A. Birds, 1872, 140.— Bd., Brew , & Eidg., N. A. Birds, 1874, 11, 45. 



PEUCAEA EUFICEPS (Cass.), var. BOUCARDI, Sclat. 



Peuccca ruficeps var. boiicardi, Henshaw, Eep. Orii. Specs., 1873, Wheeler's Expcd., 

 1874, 117. 



Under this variety of the Rufous-crowned Sparrow are included a series 

 of ten sparrows, collected in Arizona from Camp Apache southward and 

 near Fort Bayard, N. Mex. From the typical ruficeps, as shown by spec- 

 imens in the Smithsonian Institution, they differ in the generally dai'ker 

 19 z 



