2^8 Mearns oil fJic Amcricaii Sfarrow TIaivks. [J"'y 



lows : Northern British America, 3 ; Nova Scotia, 3 ; British 

 Columbia, S; Massachusetts, 3 ; Connecticut, 11 ; New York, i ; 

 New Jersey, i ; Pennsylvania, 14 ; Maryland, 6 ; District of 

 Columbia, i ; Virginia, i ; Ohio, i ; Tennessee, i ; Illinois, 9 ; 

 Florida, 36; Louisiana, 13; Minnesota, 3; North and South 

 Dakota, 10; Montana, 12; Washington, i; Oregon, 3; Wy- 

 oming, 3; Colorado, 7; Nevada, 4 ; Texas, 19; Arizona, 51 ; 

 California, 20; Lower California, 11; Mexico, 9 ; Costa Rica, 

 5 ; Nicaragua, i ; Guatemala, 7 ; Brazil, 8 ; British Guiana, i ; 

 Bogota, 3 ; Ecuador, 3 ; Peru, i ; Chile. 3 ; Argentine Republic, 

 i; Paraguay, 3 ; Strait of Magellan, i. 



A critical survey of this material shows that there are as many 

 regional phases in the American vSparrow Hawk as there are 

 subspecies of Horned Larks i^Otocoris alpestris) \ but, imlike 

 that species, these difierences are of so slight a character as to be 

 insusceptible of intelligent expression in written descriptions, in 

 the majority of cases; and it is deemed inadvisable to separate as 

 subspecies slight forms that could not be distinguished with 

 reasonable certainty without reference to the locality. The six 

 subspecies here recognized are capable of ready recognition 

 when average examples are compared with the form to which 

 they are most closely related. 



Subsp. sparverius Linn. 



As observed by Mr. Ridgway, the most distinct and character- 

 istic examples of the 5/>arz'(?r/?/5 type come from the highlands 

 of Mexico and central America ; but, as Linn6 described it from 

 specimens obtained in the eastern United States, breeding birds 

 from that general region will be described as typical sparverius . 



Adult male (based on No. 26,922, Smiths. Inst., Nova Scotia, taken, 

 with female and one &%%, in June, by W. G. Winter). — Back, upper tail cov- 

 erts, crown patch, and tail, vinaceous cinnamon rufous, the back and scap- 

 ulars rather sparingly barred with black, the tail tipped with white, with a 

 broad, subterminal band of black, the outer feather white with four black 

 bars on the inner web and a rufous stripe along the inner edge of the 

 basal half of shaft; outer web of the next feather with an ashy white area 

 in which there is a black spot. Wings bluish gray, with quills black, 

 serrated with white on inner webs; coverts with small, oval, black spots. 

 Breast ochraceous buff, fading to pale buff posteriorly ; flanks with several 

 rows of roundish, black spots; under surface of wing white, barred with 



