Merriam on Spizella arneacea. 



403 



male Spizella in breeding plumage from Fort Pierre, Dakota, 

 which proves to be widely difl'erent from any known species of 

 the genus. It is appreciably larger than vS". ptisilla^ and its 

 entire head and nape are clear ash-gray, with but a faint wash 

 of rusty over the sides of the crown. Comparison with speci- 

 mens of arenacca in the collection of the United States National 

 Museum leads to the belief that the present specimen represents 

 the previously unknown breeding plumage of that bird. It is 

 so totally unlike Spizella pusilla or any other known species 

 of the genus that it cannot for a moment be regarded as only 

 subspecifically separable. At first glance the bird looks like an 

 overgrown specimen of Spizella atrigulai'is of the second 

 year, excepting that the colors are everywhere lighter and 

 clearer. 



Descrtptioji of speciinen. — (No. 113,893, U. S. Nat. Mus.) Head and 

 neck all around clear grayish ash, paler below, nearly white under the 

 chin; sides of crown faintly washed with rusty; no rusty spot on side 

 of breast, nor bufFy suffusion anywhere on breast; interscapulars pale, 

 the rusty being confined mostly to the scapulars; outer edges of wing 

 feathers whitish ; wing-bars barely distinguishable; otherwise much as 

 in the fall specimens from Texas described by Dr. Chadbourne. 



Measiire.77ients.* — Culmen from base, 10 mm.; culmen from nostril. 

 7mm.; wing, 68 mm.; tail, 67 mm. 



Remarks. — Two additional specimens, also both males, collected at 

 Valentine, Nebraska. June 21, iSSS, agree with the above in all respects, 

 except that there is little more rusty on the sides of the crown and 

 interscapulars. 



* The wing measurement is taken with dividers, the primaries in their natural posi- 

 tion, i. e., not straightened. The tail measurement is taken with dividers, and is made 

 from the point of insertion of the two middle tail feathers to the tip of the longest 

 feather. 



