DESCRIPIIONS OF THREE NEW BIRDS FROM THE 
SOUTHERN UNITED STATES. 
By Edgar A. Mearns, 
Major and Surgeon, United States Army. 
Two birds which I collected in Florida during the winter and spring 
of 1901 prove to be new to science. These are here described, together 
with a new nuthatch from Arizona. 
COTURNICULUS SAVANNARUM FLORIDANUS, new subspecies. 
FLORIDA GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. 
Type.—^o. 176981, U.S.N.M. collection. Adult male, taken April 
23, 1901, on the Kissimmee Prairie, 7 miles east of Alligator Bluff, 
Osceola County, Florida, by Edgar A. Mearns. Original number, 
12531. 
Charactefi's. — Similar to Cohirniculus savannarum jjosserimis (Wil- 
son), but smaller, with larger bill, longer tarsus, and much darker 
coloration above, paler below; chestnut of upper surfaces much 
reduced in amount, and replaced by black; lateral dark areas of crown 
almost solid black; spotting of nape and scapulars almost black; inter- 
scapular region much blacker than in Cotumicidus mvannarmii pas- 
serinus. 
MecmiremetiU ofUjjye {adult male). — Length, 132 mm. ; alar expanse, 
210; wing, 63; tail, 49; chord of culmen, 12; tarsus, 21; middle toe 
with claw, 18. See table for comparative measurements (p. 917). 
Oeogvapidc range.— "Yho, Florida grasshopper sparrow breeds com- 
monly on the prairies of the Kissimmee Valle}^, Florida, from Kissim- 
mee City south to Alligator Bluff, and east to the headwaters of the 
St. Johns River, north of Lake Okeechobee. I found it especially 
numerous on the Kissimmee Prairie, where young of the year were on 
wing as early as April 21, 1901. Mr. W. E. D. Scott seems to have 
found this form in the Caloosahatchie region of Florida,^ and perhaps 
iThe Auk, IX, July, 1894, p. 23. 
Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXiV— No. 1274. 
915 
