198 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



feathers, 68 mm.; bill from nostril, 10 mm.; tarsus, 21 mm.; 

 middle toe, 17 mm. 



In former lists of Lower Californian birds no mention is 

 made of finding any variety of song sparrow on the peninsu- 

 la. Therefore, when I first found these birds, tolerably 

 common along the water-course of Comondu cailon, more 

 than a passing interest was taken in them, and a series 

 of thirteen specimens was collected. These were found to 

 be uniformly different from a pair of M. f. fallax, which I 

 had received some time previously from Mr. Herbert Brown, 

 and to him I sent a typical example of the Lower Califor- 

 nian bird for comparison with additional specimens of 

 fallax. He found it to vary from anything which he had, 

 and kindly sent me a series of fifteen song sparrows, col- 

 lected at Tucson, Arizona. Ten of these are unmist.ikably 

 fallax; the others are referable to nioiitana, althougli prob- 

 ably not typical of that form, no specimen of which is at 

 hand. 



Melospiza fasciata rivularis seems to be intermediate be- 

 tween montana and fallax, approaching more closely the 

 latter in coloration. The differential characters of these 

 two extremes, as given by Mr. Henshaw,"^ are as follows: 



Melospiza fasciata vtontaiia. — Above, umber brown, with 

 margins of feathers gray, giving a strong grayish aspect to 

 the plumage; back streaked with blackish brown. 



M. fasclata fallax. — Above, chiefly bright reddish brown; 

 back streaked with a darker shade of the same; streaks be- 

 low, reddish, not black; size, smaller. 



The Lower Californian sparrows are not in as fresh plu- 

 mage as I could wish, but the differences are sufficientl}^ 

 defined to be noticed at a glance. Whether the modified 

 shape and greater average length of bill will prove constant 

 in a larger series of this new form remains to be determined. 



Nothing peculiar in the habits or song of this bird was 



*Auk, I, 224. July, 1884. 



