194 NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



Contiuuing, Mr. Henshaw quotes Baird and Ridgway on insignis as follows: 



Between M. melodia of the Atlantic States and M. insignis of Kodiak the dili'erence seems wide, but the con- 



nectinn- links in the inter-regions bridge this over so completely that, with a series of hundreds of specimens before 



us, we abandon the attempt at specific separation. 



Mr. Henshaw adds: 



It needs but a glance to determiuo that the var. riifina is nearer insignis by many degrees than the melodia of the 

 east, and, as has been indicated, nothing is wanting in the chain of evidence to establish the connection between 

 rvfina and melodia. But while admitting a possibility, perhaps even probability, that the relations between insignis 

 .ind rufina may be as close as that of races, we feel justified iu asserting that the intergradation necessary to estab- 

 lish this cannot be shown from the material accumulated up to the present time. Measurements appended below 

 demonstrate that between the largest specimens of riifma in the collection and the smallest insignis there is a by no 

 means inconsiderable gap. Nor does there ajjpear to be any known law of geographical v.ariation by which this dis- 

 crepancy of size can bo accounted for. 



The law of increase of size with increased latitude, while applying to the preceding members of this group, fails 

 of application in the case of insignis; since Sitka, the metropolis of rvfina, is in the same latitude with Kodiak, that of 

 insignis; while one specimen of rvfina, and that by no means the largest, is present from Litnya Bay, which is slightly 

 farther north than Kodiak. 



And he might have added that Sitka is farther north than a large portion of the Aleutian 

 Island chain, a great portion of the habitat of insignis thus being south of the center of abundance 

 oi rufina. Our author adds: 



Possibly its insular h.aliltat may be deemed suflScient to account for the marked peculiarities of this giant among 

 Sparrows. So far, in fact, as color is concerned, although in this respect insignis is well marked, the step from rufina 

 appears an inconsiderable one as compared with that of size. But, as has been st.ated, uo intermediate specimens 

 are at hand to prove such a close relationship. 



The author concludes that cinerea should be allowed to retain its former position as a distinct 

 species pending the collection of further evidence. The true relationship of this form require.? for 

 its satisfactory determination a considerable amount of material from the region where it meets 

 rufina. M. cinerea is an abundant resident of the Near Islands, and birds from there, according 

 to Dr. Bean, have considerably smaller bills than those from the eastern part of its range. 



In the National Museum collection are various interesting stages of plumage, upon the most 

 interesting of which I subjoin remarks, prefacing the notes by stating that there are three well 

 marked plumages exhibited — the spring and fall adults and the young of the year in fall. 



The adult plumage of fall birds from Unalaska differs from the spring plumage in having a 

 greater amount of rufous on the crown, back, edges of the wing-feathers, and on the tail. In the 

 spring bird these parts are dull ashy-gray, nearly uniform, excepting where the slightly darker- 

 brown centers of the feathers on the back break the uniformity. The rump in spring is ashy -brown 

 and is olive or fulvous-brown in fall. The rusty-brown of the spots on the breast in spring birds, 

 and the ashy on the sides, the large amount of white or ashy-white of throat, breast, and abdomen, 

 all give place in fall to the greatly enlarged reddish centers of the neck and breast feathers, and 

 the large fulvous-brown areas on the sides, which latter color extends as a wash over most of the 

 abdomen, so that the birds of the two seasons appear quite different when laid side by side. The 

 young birds of the first autumn are to be known by tbeir uniformly dark coloration and the obso- 

 lete character of the markings on the back. In some specimens the dark ceutei-s are almost 

 entirely absent, as are the chestnut crown markings, which are usually dark brown in the young. 

 Kadiak birds average slightly darker than those from Unalaska and the Aleutian chain. 



A young male, two-thirds grown, taken July 15, 1872, on Kyska Island, by Mr. Dall, has 

 the crown and nape plumbeous ashy, with a dingy fulvous-brown wash, which is much darker 

 along each side of the crown, outlining the indistinct chestnut stripes of the adult. Feathers of 

 back each with a dark blackish-brown shaft marking on terminal half of tbe feather, and bordered 

 with dull fulvous-brown, which occupies the rump and oirter tail-coverts except for the narrow, 

 dark tip seen on some of the rump feathers. "Wings and tail dark brown, considerably darker 

 than in the adult. The tertials are edged exteriorly with dark rulous, which ahso borders the other 

 wing-feathers with a duller shade of the same, and extends even to the coverts. The rufous 

 of the coverts, however, is shaded with a light brownish buff", which iorms an indistinct tip 

 to coverts and tertials. The tail-feathers are edged with dark rusty-red, shaded with brown. The 

 feathers of the rump in one specimen have fine blackish shaft-lines. The superciliary line is dull 

 ashy, each feather with a reddish-brown shaft-line. The auricular patch dull reddish-brown, mot- 



