1917 BIRDS OF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ISLANDS 81 
Check-list, 3d ed., 1910, p. 274. (75) Howell and van Rossem, Condor, xi, 1911, p. 
210. (16) Willett, Pac. Coast Avif., 7, 1912, p. 84. (17) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 8, 
1912, p. 22. (18) Wright and Snyder, Condor, xv, 19138, p. 91. (79) Grinnell, Pac. 
Coast Avif., 11, 19115, p. 1125. 
Melospiza cinerea graminea (20) Ridgway, Birds North & Mid. Am., 1, 1901, p. 369. (27) 
A. O. U. Committee, Auk, xx, 1903, p. 35. 
Melospiza graminea (22) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 3, 1902, p. 56. 
M[elospiza]. m[elodia]. graminea (23) Coues, Key N. Am. Birds, 5th ed., 19038, p. 420. 
M{elospiza]. c[inerea]. graminea (24) Bailey, Handb. Birds West. U. S., 2d ed., 1904, p. 
358. 25) Reed, N. Am. Birds’ Eggs, 1904, p. 267. 
Melospiza graminea (?) (26) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 128. 
Abundant resident of Santa Barbara Island, and less common on Santa 
Cruz. C. H. Townsend (5) deseribed this subspecies from an adult male taken 
on Santa Barbara Island, February 12, 1889. It is quite similar to the next 
form (Melospiza m. clementae), but much smaller. In the type locality the first 
of May, 1908, I found these birds fairly swarming, flushing from the short scrub 
at my approach and flitting to the tops of nearby bushes. J. Grinnell (7) says 
that during the middle of May, 1897, full grown juveniles were numerous, and 
the adults apparently engaged in building their second nests. Their song, notes 
and actions were just as those of the mainland bird. He and H. Gaylord dis- 
covered five nests, a typical one being supported by the obliquely-growing twigs 
of a bush, and lined and internally composed of fine yellow grasses, in marked 
contrast to the larger brown grass and weed stems of which this nest is basally 
built. From three to five eggs are laid. Five sets, aggregating nineteen eggs, 
secured on May 14 and 15, average .61x.78 inches. Extremes are .70 to .82 in 
length, and .57 to .64 in diameter. The markings are indistinguishable from 
those of the eggs of the mainland bird. As previously mentioned there is a 
young bird in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (no. 4142), taken on Santa 
Barbara Island, May 30, 1863, by J. G. Cooper, and labelled by him ‘‘ Poospiza 
belli or Peucea ruficeps’’. 
A. van Rossem (15) heard two song sparrows near Prisoner’s Harbor, Santa 
Cruz Island the last of April, 1911, but we failed to see any. J. Mailliard (9) 
states that during April, 1898, he found none except in a certain cypress hedge. 
If those were shot several more would appear to take their places in a day or two. 
C. B. Linton (26) found them fairly common on this island in November and 
December, 1907. Coues (23) says that the subspecies occurs on the adjacent 
mainland during the winter, but I know of no specimen having been taken to 
contirm this statement and consider the occurrence as doubtful in the extreme. 
On Catalina Island, in April, 1908, I twice heard the song of this species in 
the same patch of brush. No song sparrow has been taken on this island. If the 
bird that I heard was one of a resident race it was probably of the subspecies 
graminea, but if a migrant or winter visitant, it is more likely to have been a 
strageler from the mainland. 
146. Melospiza melodia clementae ©. H. ‘Townsend 
San CLEMENTE SONG SPARROW 
Melospiza heermanni (1) Cooper, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 1v, 1870, p. 78. 
