i 
jf 
OCT 8 1897 
THE AUK: 
AV@iU AGRE Ri ys 1 jOoU RIN ALY OP 
ORNITHOLOGY: 
VOL. Xv. OCTOBER, 1897. NO. 4. 
THE WESTERN FIELD SPARROW (SP/ZELLA 
PUSILLA ARENACEA CHADBOURNE). 
BY CHARLES W. RICHMOND. 
Plate ILZ. 
THE WESTERN FIELD SPARROW, illustrated in this number of 
‘The Auk,’ was first brought to the attention of ornithologists in 
1886! by Dr. Arthur P. Chadbourne, who characterized it from 
two late autumn specimens collected at Laredo, Texas. Nothing 
was then known of the breeding plumage or summer range of the 
bird, but two years later Dr. C. Hart Merriam described? three 
breeding specimens, all males, obtained by Mr. Vernon Bailey at 
Fort Pierre, South Dakota, and Valentine, Nebraska. These 
examples were found to be so unlike the eastern Field Sparrow 
that Dr. Merriam was led to consider the western form specifically 
distinct and designated it Spzzel/a arenacea (Chadbourne). Sub- 
sequent material, however, proved it to be of only subspecific 
importance, and it has since held this rank in the ‘ Check-List.’ 
The differences between the Western Field Sparrow and the 
typical eastern bird are chiefly in the greater dimensions and 
1 Auk, III, April, 1886, 248-240. 
? Auk, V, Oct., 1888, 402-403. 
44 
