[556] BIRDS OF OREGON 



be heard throughout the year. Woodcock (1901) mentioned taking one 

 specimen and seeing others near Corvallis, which not only constitutes 

 the first published record for the State but is also the only record for the 

 Willamette Valley. We have not seen this specimen, but it is unlikely 

 that so good an observer as Woodcock would confuse this big Brown 

 Towhee with anything else. Bowles (1910) listed it from Josephine 

 County, and Grinnell (1912.) recorded it from southern Oregon. 



Patterson (ms.) has found numerous nests about Ashland and Pinehurst 

 with extreme dates of May 2. and 2.0. 



Western Savannah Sparrow: 



Passerculus sandwichensis alaudinus Bonaparte 



DESCRIPTION. "Similar to sandwichensis, but smaller and averaging grayer, super- 

 ciliary stripe often white. Male: length (skins) 4.50-5.58, wing 1.56-3.06, tail 

 i. 80-2.. 15, bill .38-. 43. Female: length (skins) 4.50-5.2.0, wing 2.. 56-1. 87, tail 

 1.76-1.10, bill .38-. 45." (Bailey) Nest: A depression in the ground, lined with 

 dried grass. Eggs: 3 to 6, dull white or brownish, spotted with brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Arctic Coast of Alaska and Mackenzie to 

 British Columbia and Alberta. Winters south into Mexico and Lower California. 

 In Oregon: This subspecies, as now restricted, occurs only as migrant and winter 

 resident but is found throughout State, particularly in September and October. 



THE WESTERN SAVANNAH SPARROW is the abundant Savannah Sparrow in 

 the fall months throughout the State. It is common in the summit 

 meadows of the Cascades as well as throughout the valleys of both 

 eastern and western Oregon, and it mingles with P. s. sandwichensis on 

 the coast. In the spring it is not a conspicuous part of the Savannah 

 Sparrow population as it appears on its northward flight with the breed- 

 ing forms that in the fall leave for the south before alaudinus appears in 

 numbers. Our earliest fall date is September 15; our latest spring date, 

 May 9. We have many specimens taken between these extremes in every 

 section of the State. 



The occasional wintering birds we have taken in the Willamette Val- 

 ley, particularly in Portland, have all been of this race. There has been 

 so much confusion of names between this migrant and the breeding 

 nevadensis that it is impossible to satisfactorily assign the references in 

 literature in many instances. All eastern Oregon breeding records should 

 now be considered mvadensis, whereas migration records might be either. 

 Because of the ease of confusing this and other races of the Savannah 

 Sparrow we are basing our statements and discussions entirely on our 

 collected birds. As our collecting has of necessity been on the hit-or-miss 

 order, as opportunity offered, more systematic future work may change 

 our present concept of the relations of these races. 



