BIRDS. 187 



To extend the rauge of tlie Savanna Sparrow proper " uortliwe»t to Alaska,"' as iis done in 

 the History of Xorth American Birds, is a mistake, and Mr. Eidgway assures me he has never seen 

 a specimen of typical savanna from that region. All the numerous skins in the National Museum 

 collection from the Anderson and Mackenzie Kivers, as well as from Alaska, belong to alaudinus, 

 excepting those of the larger race, sandtcichewiis, which is peculiar to the Aleutian Islands, and 

 thence south along the coast. The Savanna Sparrow proper probably does not breed in the interior 

 of the continent north of Hudson's Bay, and the chain of lakes extending northwest from Winnipeg 

 may form its western and northwestern boundary. Specimens from Sitka, and the northwest coast, 

 are referable either to samhcichcnsis or alaudinus, the former being the resident form in summer in 

 Southeast Alaska, and the latter occurring as a migrant there and a summer resident throughout 

 the rest of the Territory. 



AM3IODRAMUS SANDWiCHENSis ALAUDINUS (Ronap.). Western Savanna Sparrow 

 (Esk. Mljitluk). 



Kext to the Lapland Lougspur, the Western Savanna Sparrow is the most abundant of the 

 sparrow tribe throughout the Bering Sea coast region of Alaska, and it extends thence north to the 

 Arctic shores of the Territory. In order to ascertain i)ositively whether more than a single form 

 of this bird occurred in the vicinity of Saint Michaels, 1 made a practice during my stay of shooting 

 every Savanna Sparrow which appeared at a hasty glance to differ from the ordinary form, alaudi- 

 nus. As a result, I secured about fifty skins, every one of which is referable to the present bird ; 

 and if it is taken into consideration that, in addition to the skins saved, at least a hundred speci- 

 mens were examined, but not preserved, it will be apparent that no other form is likely to have 

 been overlooked. 



This form was found to be common at Cook's Inlet and Kadiak Bay by Bean in July, ISSO. 



In the paper of Messrs Ball and Bannister (loc. cit.) the statement of the occurrence of P. anthinus 

 at Saint Michaels is erroneous. The specimens upon which this identification was based are at 

 present in the National Museum collection, and are typical examples of alaudinus. Elliott does not 

 mention a single Passerculus from the Seal Islands, though one or both forms undoubtedly occur 

 there, as sandwickensis is common at Unalaska, only a comparatively short distance to the south. 

 In the notes of Messrs. Dall and Bannister, before mentioned, all accounts of the occurrence of P. 

 savanna, P. anthinus, and P. alaudinus are to be referred, without exception, to the latter form. 



The P. savanna, cited as common on the Yukon, yet rare at Saint Michaels and Unalaklik, 

 and as being found at Sitka by Bischoff, must be referred to alaudinus, as is shown by an exam- 

 ination of the specinjeus upon which these records were made. Bonaparte places the habitat of 

 P. anthinus in Eussian America and that of alaudinus in California, in his original description, 

 and. as is stated in a foot-note in the History of North American Birds, from the fact that this 

 form, anthinus, is not found in any part of Alaska, nor, indeed, north of California, it is probable 

 that the localities of the two forms were transposed in Bonaparte's original description. Anthinus 

 appears to be a narrowly-limited Californiau coast race, almost wholly confiaed to the salt marshes 

 iuid vicinity of the seashore. On the other hand, we have in alaudinus a widely-extended interior 

 race, which reaches the shores of the Arctic Ocean on the Anderson and JMackenzie Ivivers, and 

 along the coast of Alaska, while it passes the summer at various points to the south, along the 

 interior Eocky Mountain country to Utah, and across to the Pacific side of the Sierra Nevadas, 

 where it has been found breeding even to Santa Barbara, Cal., where a recently-fledged young has 

 been taken. 



At Saint Michaels, on Norton Sound, these biixls airive in early seasons by May 10, but usually 

 about the 15th of this month, and become more and more abundant until about the 1st of June, 

 when all are back in their summer haunts and have already paired. In a short time they have 

 chosen their nesting-sites and constructed the light structure which is to contain their eggs. 

 Towards the last of June the young are out, and are fully fledged early in July, after which, with 

 the adulis, they come in abundance about wet places in the vicinity of houses. Most of them 

 leave early in September, and they are rarely seen after the middle of this month. The site where 

 the nest is placed varies considerably with the locality. I have discovered nests on open, grassy 



