320 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Heermann, who first obtained it in the Tejon Valley. It has been 

 found in California as far north as San Francisco and to the south and 

 southeast to San Diego and the Mohave River. This bird's favorite 

 resorts are on the hillsides, canons and along the banks of streams. 

 The nest is placed in bushes from two to six feet from the ground. 

 Mr. Emerson states that the complement of eggs is generally four. 

 The ground color in the eggs of heermanni is generally more bluish 

 than in those of samuelis and the markings are heavier and of a darker 

 brown and tend to be more confluent at the larger end than in the eggs 

 of the latter. The egg of this species is also much larger. .87 x .64. 



581i. Melospiza fasciata samuelis (Baird.) [23 1^.] 



Samuel's Song Sparrow. 



Hab. Coast regions of California. 



Wherever there are salt marshes along the coast of California, 

 Samuel's Song Sparrow is sure to be found. The bird is especially 

 abundant in the neighborhood of San Francisco. Mr. Emerson in- 

 forms me that he has found the nest placed on the ground beneath 

 tussocks of grass or in salt weeds and more often in a kind of low shrub 

 that grows on the old sand drifts. Mr. Walter E. Bryant records a nest 

 containing three eggs taken by Mr. Emerson from a round oyster can, 

 which had lodged sideways among some driftwood, in a willow tree. 

 A nest before me taken March 26, near Haywards, California, is 

 composed of coarse, dry grasses and weed stems externally, the inside 

 and lining being made of finer material of the same. Three or four 

 eggs are deposited by this bird ; their color is of a bluish-gray, spotted 

 and blotched pretty generally over the surface with reddish-brown. A 

 set of three eggs collected by Mr. Emerson, May i, gives the follow- 

 ing respective sizes : .79 x .63, .75 x .59, .83 x .59 ; another, .75 x .59, 



•83 X .59> 75 X .59- 



» 



^%\e. Melospiza fasciata guttata (NuTT.) [231^.] 



Rusty Song Sparro-nr. 



Hab. Pacific coast region, from Northern California north to British Columbia. 



The Oregon or Rusty Song Sparrow is restricted to the Pacific 

 coast district, breeding from Northern California northward. The eggs 

 are described as being indistinguishable from those of M. fasciata^ of 

 the Eastern States, averaging the same in size. 



582. Melospiza cinerea (Gmel.) [232.] 



Aleutian Song Sparroxr. 



Hab. Aleutian Islands, east to Fort Kenai, Alaska. 



This is the Cineaeous or Kadiak Song Sparrow of peculiar size, 

 shape and color, and very long, slender bill. It inhabits the Aleutian 



