164 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Hoffman. Rather common, more particularly so in 

 the eastern and southern parts of Nevada. 



Stockton. L. B. September 29, 1881, first, a fine 

 example; October 12, several. Gridley, September 30, 

 1884, appears to be a rather rare but regular winter visi- 

 tant in the Sacramento Valley as far south as Stockton, 

 coming in fall at about the same time that M. fasciata 

 guttata does. Specimens collected by me at Marysville 

 and Stockton in 1878 (and afterward, I believe), were 

 identified by Prof. Ridgway as variety fallax Baird, 

 which is now treated as variety montana Henshaw. I 

 suppose Prof. Ridgway in giving the habitat of montana 

 in his Manual of North American Birds, unintentionally 

 omitted California, but I do not know such to be the 

 fact. Perhaps the individuals found in California in 

 winter cross the Sierra Nevada to winter in the milder 

 climate of this State and in spring return to Nevada to 

 breed. Very few song sparrows breed in the mount- 

 ains of California. 



i 



183. Melospiza fasciata heermanni ( Baird). HEERMANN'S 



SONG SPARROW. 



An abundant resident in the tule marshes of the in- 

 terior of California; also found frequently in thickets 

 near water. Specimens I collected in January at Campo- 

 were not typical heermanni, taking the Stockton bird for 

 such, but were nearer to it than to samuelis, taking 

 Walter E. Bryant's diminutive Oakland samuelis- as a 

 type for the latter. The local variation of the resident 

 song sparrows of California is decidedly perplexing. 

 Mr. Henshaw (1879), in an excellent article on the- 

 Melospizw, says that it is upon a basis of size alone that 

 samuelis can be separated from heermanni, samuelis being 

 much the smaller. Charles H. Townsend found it breed- 

 ing on McCloud River. 



