lAd. Richmond, B/sc/zo/f's So»o- S/>arymv. | ^^".51 



ON THE STATUS OF BISCHOFF'S SONG SPARROW 

 {MELOSPIZA TNSIGNIS BAIRD). 



RY CHARLES W. RICHMOND. 



Some time ago Major Chas. E. Bendire, Honorary Curator 

 Department of Oology in the United States National Museum, 

 received some eggs of the Aleutian' Song Sparrow from Mr. C. 

 Littlejohn of Redwood City, Calif., collected at Sannak Island, 

 Alaska, in the summer of 1894. These eggs proved, upon compari- 

 son, to be so much larger than others in the National Museum 

 collection that Mr. Littlejohn was requested to send specimens of 

 the bird for identification, which he very kindly did. At about the 

 same time Mr. B. J. Bretherton of Lincoln, Oregon, sent on two 

 specimens of Melospiza^ with a small lot of other birds, all from 

 Kadiak Island, which he very generously presented to the 

 National Museum. Upon learning that the Kadiak specimens 

 were not Melospiza cinerea, Mr. Bretherton sent a third example 

 for examination, for which I have to thank him. Mr. Littlejohn, 

 at my request, forwarded a series of twenty-seven specimens of 

 M. cinerea^ all from Sannak Island, for comparison with the large 

 series in the National Museum collection, for which courtesy my 

 thanks are due him. A series of over eighty specimens is now at 

 hand, and amply sufficient, I think, to illustrate the validity of 

 Melospiza insignis Baird. Of these specimens, eleven are insig>iis, 

 from Kadiak, and the remainder are cinerea, mainly from 

 Unalaska and Sannak Islands. A glance at the Kadiak birds 

 without recourse to measurements will suffice to distinguish them 

 from true cinerea from Unalaska, in fact they may readily be 

 identified without direct comparison with the latter, which points 

 strongly in favor or the recognition of insignis as a valid race. 

 Its position, as may be inferred from its habitat, is between rnfina 

 and cinerea. 



Melospiza insignis., or Bischoff's Song Sparrow, was described 

 by Professor Baird in 1869, from six specimens collected by 

 Ferd. Bischoff at Kadiak Island during that and the preceding 

 year. At that time the Fringilla cinerea of Gmelinfrom Unalaska 



