.128 



FOKEIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



streaked ; lesser wing-coverts greenish yellow, brighter 

 on edge of wing ; median and greater coverts bla-ck, 

 with ashy margins and whitish tips ; flights dusky, with 

 ashy margins, inner secondaries, with rufous margins ; 

 tail-feathers similar .to flights ; lores -whitish, above 

 which is a line of yellow passing into a pale ashy 

 eyebrow stripe ; feathers round eye whitish ; ear- 

 ooverts and sides of face ashy ; the former bounded 

 above by a black line and behind by a black spot ; 

 throat ashy whitish, greyer on sides of neck and 

 streaked with black ; lower throat huffish ; centre of 

 body below white ; sides, flanks, and thighs brown :- 

 under tail-coverts pale huffish; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaric.-? whitish, yellow near edge of wing; beak 

 grey-brown, fleshy white at base of lower mandible ; 

 feet pale fleshy brown ; hides yellowish-brown. 

 Female not differentiated, but doubtless differing in 

 outline of beak as usual. Hab., South America, from 

 Guiana, Venezuela, and Colombia to South Brazil and 

 Bolivia (Sharpe). 



Messrs. Sclater and Hudson unite A. peruanus with 

 this species, and observe (''Argent. Ornith.," I., p. 61) : 

 " Many years ago I first noticed it on the pampas 

 north of Buenos Ayres ; afterwards I found it in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of that city ; then it began 

 to spread over the plains to the south, appearing every 

 spring in greater numbers, but it ie still far from 

 common. It has, I fancy, a limited migration, as I 

 could never find one in winter. It is solitary, and 

 frequents open plains and fields ; lives on the ground, 

 and never alights on a tree. The male has a favourite 

 perch, a tall weed or post, where he spends a great 

 deal of his time, repeating his song at intervals of 

 half a minute ; it is short and pleasing, and has a 

 slight resemblance to the song of the Yellowhamimer, 

 but is more delicate and melodious. When approached, 

 the bird flies down and conceals itself in the grass." 



H. von Ihering (The Ibis, 1901, p. 13) says that the 

 egg of this species " has been described several 

 times, but always wrongly." Mr. J. G. Kerr (t.c., p. 

 223), speaking of 'birds observed on the Gran Chaco, says 

 " Common, January, 1897." 



This is all that I have been able to discover respecting 

 the life history of A. manimbe from an examination of 

 numerous books in my library. Specimens from Vene- 

 zuela were presented to our Zoological Society by Capt. 

 Albert Pam in 1906. 



Of the so-called Swamp-Sparrow (Melosp'na 

 georgiana), Russ says: "Formerly it was imported 

 several times by Gudera, but is of no significance for 

 aviculture." It is not likely to come in future, and 

 therefore may be passed over. 



MELODIOUS SPARROW* (Mdosjnza fasciata). 



Above, brown, streaked with black on mantle and 

 upper back ; the feathers internally edged with ashy 

 and externally with chestnut ; lower back and rump 

 more ashy and more distinctly streaked ; lesser wing- 

 coverts rufescent ; median coverts dark brown, 

 with rufescent borders and ashy edges ; greater 

 coverts rufous, tipped with whitish, and en- 

 closing black spots towards the tips, like the inner 

 secondaries ; remaining flights blackish-brown, rufous 

 externally, whitish towards end of primaries ; upper 

 tail-coverts rufous-brown, edged with ashy and streaked 



*Rideway makes this one of twenty subspecies of Jf. cinerea ; 

 he admits that there may be connecting 1 links, and probably 

 are, between these named forms, indeed he knows there are in 

 many ca&es ; if so. their separation one from the other seems to 

 me much like sorting marbles by their ^ints; I fail utterly to 

 see how it benefits science. 



with black ; tail brown ; the centre feathers with black 

 shaft-stripe ; the remainder with pale rufescent edges, 

 outer feathers paler at tips ; crown streaked with 

 black, ashy in centre, chestnut on each side, lores, 

 feathers in front and below eye, and a broad eyebrow- 

 stripe creamy white, the latter more ashy at" back ; 

 ear-coverte ashy-buff with paler shafts; "a chestnut 

 streak along upper edge ; a second chestnut streak 

 separating them from the cheeks which are o-rhraefoiis : 

 the latter .separated from the throat by a broad chestnut 

 tinted black streak; sides of neck ashy nai'rowly 

 streaked with black; under surface white, the throat 

 very slightly spotted with dusky ; the breast rufescent 

 with large triangular black spots ; sides and flanks 

 yellowish streaked with chestnut and black ; thighs 

 brown ; under tail-coverts yellowish, with dusky 

 centres ; under wing-coverts and axilliaries whitish, 

 ashy at base ; flights below dusky, the inner margins 

 rufescent; beak above dark brown, below bluish; feet 

 pale brown; irides hazel. Hab., Breeds throughout 

 the temperate North America, including the plateau of 

 Mexico (Ridgway) ; Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and 

 northward. 



According to both Slia-rpe and RidgAvay M. faUax, 

 M. heermanni, and M. rufina, which J. G." Cooper keeps 

 separate in his work on the Ornithology of California, 

 are only sub-species ; I therefore quote the fol- 

 lowing notes on the wild habits of the species 

 from his account of M. heermanni: "This species is 

 the representative of the genus in all the southern 

 half of California, except Colorado Valley, being found 

 in every locality where there are thickets of low bushes 

 and tall weeds, especially in the vicinity of water, but 

 coming familiarly about gardens and 'houses if un- 

 molested by its enemy the cat. Their usual resort is on 

 the ground under the shad of plants, where they in- 

 dustriously scratch for seeds throughout the day, rarely 

 flying more than a few yards, and never deserting their 

 homes from one end of the year to the other. 



" Occasionally, especially in spring, they perch on 

 some low bush or tree and sing their lively and pleas- 

 ing melodies for an hour at a time, each .song being a 

 complete little stanza of a dozen notes, and frequently 

 varied or changed entirely for another of similar style, 

 but quite distinct. There is no difficulty in dis- 

 tinguishing their songs when once heard, although no 

 two birds sing precisely alike. There is a similarity 

 of tone and style in all the species of Melospiza, proper, 

 that has led former observers to consider them as if 

 only one species, Avhen taken in connection with their 

 similar colours and habits. 



" The nest of this species I cannot positively describe, 

 though I found one at Santa Cruz in June, which I 

 have little doubt belonged to it. It was built in a 

 dense blackberry bush, about three feet from the 

 ground, formed of a thick wall of grasses and bark, 

 lined with finer grasses. There were but two eggs, 

 smoky white, and densely speckled with dull brown. I 

 waited for more eggs to'be laid, but on my next visit 

 found that it had been robbed. 



" Zcntiitrli-li'id (/i/ffafa,'' cf. Heermanh, P. R. Rep. X., 

 VI. . 47, refers chiefly to this species, which he collected 

 in Tejou Vallev, while he did not obtain the true 

 guttata (rufina). " Though this bird was abundant 

 around Santa Cruz, I onlv found two nests, after mm-h 

 searching. The first, built on a willow, close against 

 the tree, and three feet from the ground, contained 

 four eggs partly hatched on May llth. (I had seen 

 newly fledged young on the 7th.) It was composed of 

 coarse dry stems and leaves, lined with finer crass and 

 horsehairs, outside five inches wide, four high, inside 

 two ond a half wide, two deep;, eggs pale green, 



