• i 



2^ NUKTH AMKIllCAN lillilXS. 



of their iiusts. One was in a willow, close against the tree, ami three feet 

 from the L^mmKl, cnntainin^', on the 11th of May, four e«,'gs i>artially hatched. 

 This was l»uilt of coarse dry stems and leaves, lined with tiiicr grasses and 

 horse-hair. It was Hve inches in external diameter, and lour high. The 

 cavity was two and a half inchi'S dee]> and two in diamet<'r. These eggs 

 had a gminul of greenish-while, and were l>loi(lied ami spotted witli a 

 j»uri»lisli-l»ro\vn, cliielly at the larger end. They were .SJ hy .ij'2 of an inch 

 in measnrcimMit. The grouml-color was paler and the spots were darker 

 than in eggs of Z. tfitnhili, the whole coloring nnich darker than in those of 

 M.fiilhiu'. 'I'his nest was apparently an (»ld one used for a second brood. 



Another nest found as late as July 10, and doubtless a second brood, was 

 in a thicket, six feet from the ground, and also contained four eggs. l)r. 

 Cooper states that he has seen the newly Hedged young by the 7th of May. 



l)r. lleermann, in his account of this bird, which he supposed to be the 

 fjntftftn of J>r. (Jiimbel, states that he found it abundant ilnoughout the 

 whole country over which he passed, and m(»re especially so in the bushes 

 bordering the streams, ponds, and marshes. Its notes, sweet, and few in 

 iuind)er, resembled those of the common Song Sparrow. Its nests, usually 

 built in thick tufts of bushes, were composed externally of grasses and lined 

 with hair, and contained each four eggs, with a pale bluish-ash ground, 

 thickly covered with dashes of burnt uml)er. Eggs of this species, from near 

 Monterey, cidlected by Dr. Cantield, vary in measurement from .80 by .Oo of 

 an inch to .8S by .?<•, — larger than any eggs of JArAw^*/:// mrlodla that I have 

 seen. Their ground-color is a light green. The blotclass are large, distinct, 

 and more or less conHuent, and of a blended reihlish and purjdish brown. 

 They are in some ditfused over the entire egg, in others disposed around the 

 larger end. 



Melospiza melodia, var. samuelis, r>AmD. 



SAMUELS'S 80KG SPABBOW. 



i Ammodromus samuelis, Baikd, Pr. IJoston Soc. N. H. VI, June, 1858, 381. — Ib. Birds 



j N.Am. 1855<, 455, pi. Ixxi, f. 1. — Coopku, Orn. Cal. I, 191. Melospiza gouldi, 



\; Baird, Birds X. Am. 1858, -I7i». 



Sp. Char. Somewhat like Melospizti melodia^ but eonsideranly smaller and <larker. 

 Bill slender and acute, the depth not more than half the eiilinen. Above streaked on 

 the head. back, and \\\n\\\ with dark brown, the borders of the fi'athers paler, but without 

 any rufous. Beneath i»ure white : the brea^st, with sides of thn^at and body, spotted and 

 streaked with black, apparently farther back than on other .'^pecies. Win<rs above nearly 

 uniform dark brownish-rutbus. Under tail-coverts yellowish-brown, conspicuously 

 blotched with blackish. An ashy superciliary stripe, becomincr nearly white to the bill, 

 and a whitish maxillary one below which is a liroad blackish stripe alons: the sides of 

 neck; the crown with faint jrrayish median line. Lenjith, 5 inches; wins;, 2.20; tail, 

 2.35. Bill dusky; lec^s rather paU-. Bill, .35 from nostril by .24 deep; tarsus, .71 ; middle 

 toe without claw, .58. (5,5.53 ^J, Petalumn. Cal.) 



Hab Coast reirion of California, n<'ar San Francisco. 



