274 Grinnell, Status of Melospiza lincolni striata. \ k^\ 



remarkable fact — perhaps a joke on us — that a bird which we 

 have classed outside the ranks of the singers proper should deliver 

 a song that judged by our own musical standards takes higher 

 technical rank than any other known example of bird music. 



THE STATUS OF MELOSPIZA LINCOLNI STRIATA 



BREWSTER. 



BY JOSEPH GRINNELL. 



Melospiza lincolni striata Brewster. 



Melospiza lincolni striata Brewster, Auk VI, April 18S9, 89 Coriginal 

 description, based on September birds from Comox, B. C.)- — Chapman, 

 Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Ill, 1890, 148 ("standing doubtful").— 

 Rhoads, AukX, Jan. 1893, 21 (characters not considered good). — 

 Rhoads, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1893, 51 (characters considered "slight 

 and variable "). — McGregor, Condor, II, March 1900, 35 (skins from Red- 

 wood City, San Geronimo, St. Helena, and Battle Creek, California). — 

 Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif. No. 3, June 1902, 57 (winter visitant in Cal- 

 ifornia "south through the coast belt to the San Francisco Bay region "). 

 — Brewster, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., XLI, Sept. 1902, 150 (specimen from 

 Victoria Mountains, L. Cal. ; "I see no reason why the existence of inter- 

 mediate specimens, such as those to which Mr. Chapman calls attention, 

 should be necessarily prejudicial to the recognition of the form as a sub- 

 species, although its standing cannot perhaps be regarded as assured until 

 its breeding-grounds are definitely known, and fully mature birds in sum- 

 mer plumage have been examined."). 



Melospiza lincohiii Grinnel.1., Auk, XV, April 1S98, 128 (found breed- 

 ing at Sitka, Alaska, and a juvenile one-third grown secured; Mr. Brew- 

 ster comments on an adult bird submitted to him as follows: "Your 

 Lincoln's Sparrow from Sitka, Alaska, agrees closely with my types of 

 M. c. [sic] striata in respect to the streaking of the upper parts, but it is 

 less olivaceous and the buffy is less rich and deep. Making due allowance 

 for seasonal and individual variation, I should think it not improbable 

 that it may represent the breeding plumage of striata, but it would be of 

 course unsafe to assume this positively on the strength of a single speci- 

 men." [Mr. Brewster's wise but cautiously-made conjectures have proven 

 correct]). — Ridgway, Bds. N. & Mid. Am. I, 1901, 382 (striata doubtfully 

 synonymized under Melospiza lincolnii). 



