UD THE WESTERN SAVANNA SPARROW. 
General Range.—Fastern North America breeding from the northern 
United States to Labrador and the Hudson Bay country; casual(?) in the 
Western United States. 
Range in Washington.—Imperfectly made out; many birds resident on 
West-side believed to be of this form. 
Authorities.—Bowles and Dawson, Auk, Vol. XXV. Oct. 1908, p. 483. 
Specimens.—Bowles, ‘Tacoma, April 28, 1907 (4). 
SOME, specimens we get on Puget Sound are no larger than typical 
Western Savanna, but are more strongly and brightly colored—handsome 
enough to be sandwichensis proper. Are these resaturated forms the bleached 
alaudinus, so long resident in the wet country as to be now reassuming 
the discarded tints of old? Are they, rather, intergrades between P. s. sand- 
wichensis and P. s. alaudinus, theoretically resident on the lower Sound and 
in B. C.? Or are they casual overflows of true savanna, ignorant of our 
western metes and bounds? I do not know. ‘Tweedledum or tweedledee? 
Here is a fine problem for the man with a gun, to whom a new subspecies 
is more than the lives of a thousand innocents. But I disclaim all responsi- 
bility in the matter. 
No. 43. 
WESTERN SAVANNA SPARROW. 
A. O. U. No. 542b. Passerculus sandwichensis alaudinus (Bonap.). 
Synonym.—GRraAy SAVANNAH SPARROW. 
Description.—Similar to P. s. savanna but decidedly paler and grayer; less 
bay or none in edging of feathers of upperparts; yellow of superciliary stripe 
usually paler, sometimes nearly white; bill longer and relatively weaker. Other 
dimensions about as in P. s. savanna. 
Recognition Marks.—As in preceding—paler. 
Nesting.—WNest: in grassy meadow, of dried grasses settled deeply into dead 
grass or, rarely, into ground. Eggs: 4 or 5, grayish white to light bluish green, 
profusely dotted or spotted and blotched with varying shades of brown and 
slate, sometimes so heavily as to conceal the ground color. Av. size, .75 x .55 
(19 x 13.97). Season: third week in May; one brood. 
General Range.—Western North America from the eastern border of the 
Great Plains breeding from the plateau of Mexico to northwestern Alaska; in 
winter south to Lower California and Guatemala. 
Range in Washington.—Both sides of the Cascades in low-lying meadows. 
Perhaps sparingly resident in winter on West-side. 
