a Chapman, The Seaside Sf arrows. \j\va. 



breeding on the coast of Louisiana, the Corpus Christi bird is 

 less closely related than to any other form of the group, except 

 A. nigrescens. There is no evidence whatever of its intergradation 

 with any of its congeners and consequently no reason for deny- 

 ing it specific rank. 



Ammodramus maritimus et subsp. 



Having disposed of the two forms whose status is clearest we 

 may now approach those whose relationships and distribution 

 present certain apparent anomalies. Before discussing the 

 questions involved in a study of these birds it will be well to 

 first give briefly our recorded information concerning their 

 distribution and the accepted views in regard to their relation- 

 ships. 



Ammodramus maritimus ( fVi/s.) . 



In the second edition of the A. O. U. ' Check-List ' the range 

 of this species is given as " Salt marshes of the Atlantic Coast, 

 from Connecticut southward to Georgia. Accidental in Massa- 

 chusetts." Recent records show the bird to be a regular summer 

 resident in Rhode Island and as far east as Westport, Mass., 

 just beyond the Rhode Island State line. 1 The locality " Geor- 

 gia," given in the ' Check-List,' is evidently based on Mr. William 

 Brewster's identification of the series of twelve breeding birds 

 taken by himself, in some instances with nests and eggs, at St. 

 Mary's, Georgia. 2 



In the second edition of his 'Manual,' Appendix, page 602, 

 Mr. Ridgway gives the range of maritimus as " Massachusetts 

 to northern Florida," the latter locality being doubtless based on 

 Lieut. Robinson's breeding birds from St. Augustine and Matan- 

 zas Inlet, which I have previously mentioned as included in the 

 series loaned me by Mr. Ridgway. 



1 See Howe, Auk XIV, 1897, 219; Sturtevant, ibid. 322; Farley, ibid. 322. 



2 Auk, XII, 1890, 212. 



