THE MOUNTAIN SONG SPARROW. 139 
No. 55. 
MOUNTAIN SONG SPARROW. 
A. O. U. No. 581 b. Melospiza melodia montana (Henshaw). 
Description*.—4Adults: Crown dull bay streaked with black and divided by 
ashy-gray median stripe; rufous brown post-ocular and rictal stripes, enclosing 
grayish-brown auriculars; remaining upperparts: ashy-gray varied by reddish 
brown, the gray due to broad edgings of feathers and occupying from one-half 
to two-thirds the total area according to season, feathers of back and scapulars 
sharply streaked with blackish centrally; wings and tail brown varied by minor 
markings and edgings of dusky, brownish gray and ashy-gray; below white, or 
sordid, heavily streaked on sides of throat, breast and sides by blackish and 
rufous, markings wedge-shaped, tear-shaped or elongated, confluent on sides of 
throat as maxillary stripes and often on center of breast as indistinct blotch. Bill 
horn-color above, lighter below ; feet pale brown, toes darker; iris brown. Young: 
Like adults but duller, all markings less sharply defined, streaks of underparts 
narrower. Length of adult male (skins): 6.00 (150); wings 2.73 (69.3); tail 
2.74 (69.6) ; bill .48 (12.2); tarsus .88 (22.4). 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; heavy streaking of breast and back, 
with varied head markings, distinctive; lighter, grayer and more sharply streaked 
as compared with M. m. merrilli. 
Nesting.—As next. 
General Range.—‘Rocky Mountain district of the United States west to 
and including the Sierra Nevada, in California; north to eastern Oregon, southern 
Idaho and southern Montana; south in winter to western Texas and northern 
Mexico” (Ridgway). Probably also north into British Columbia and south- 
western Alberta. 
Range in Washington.— Migrant and winter resident along eastern borders. 
Authorities.— ? Snodgrass, Auk, XX. 1903, 207. W. T. Shaw m epist, Dec. 
BI lOOs. ore 
Specimens.—P' (32 spec.). 
WHETHER or not the Song Sparrows of northern Montana and eastern 
British Columbia are typical montana, the doctors must settle; but certain 
it is that sparrows of a type decidedly lighter, that is, ashier, in coloration, 
than our merrilli, pass thru our eastern borders during migrations. Of such 
a bird, examined narrowly at Spokane on November 4, 1905, my note-book 
says (comparing at every point with merrilli): “Ashy gray and brown of 
head strongly contrasting; ashy of back and scapulars very extensive, brown 
areas of feathers not exceeding one-third their total width; underparts clearer 
white; streaking lighter rusty and more sharply defined, more narrow on 
sides.” 
a. Based upon that of Melospiza melodia from which it differs slightly in proportions but chiefly in 
grayer coloration. The measurements are those of Ridgway, Birds of N. & M. A., Vol. I., p. 358. 
