1920] Swarth: Revision of Avian Oenus Passerella 85 



given by Ridgway (1901, p. 388), though the plate reference is the 

 same in each case. The latter author cites the German edition of the 

 book, so presumably the differences of pagination noted occur in the 

 two different editions. 



In 1788 there appeared Gmelin's (1788, p. 875) description of 

 Emheriza unalaschccnsis, based upon the Unalashka Bunting of 

 Latham (1782, p. 202) and Pennant (1785, p. 364). This name has 

 generally been applied to the fox sparrow of the north Pacific coast, 

 of later years restricted to the bird of the Alaska Peninsula and some 

 nearby islands. 



The genus Passerella was characterized by Swainson (1837, p. 

 288), including the one form iliaca. 



In 1838 Plectrophanes townsendi was figured by Audubon in his 

 "Birds of America," as from the "shores of the Columbia River," 

 while in 1839 in the "Ornithological Biography" he applies the name 

 Fringilla townsendi to the same bird. 



In 1839 another fox spaiTow was named. Vigors' report on "The 

 Zoology of Captain Beechey's Voyage" containing the description of 

 a new sparrow, Fringilla meruloides, recognizable as pertaining to a 

 Passerella, but not, in the present writer's opinion, applicable to any 

 one subspecies. 



In 1858 (p. 490) Baird described Passerella schistacea in volume 

 IX of the Pacific Railroad reports, the first of the slaty colored forms 

 to be pointed out. As shown by the wording of his diagnosis and 

 comments, there is confusion of two distinct forms in this description. 

 The type specimen of schistacea is clearly indicated as a specimen 

 from the Platte River, the description as evidently applies to a quite 

 distinct form from California. The mistake is in a measure rectified 

 in the appendix to the same volume (loc. cit., p. 925), where the name 

 Passerella megarhynchus is (rather hesitatingly) applied to the birds 

 from Fort Tejon, no exact type being here indicated. 



There was by that time, and for a number of years following, a 

 general recognition of three or more divisions in the species, the 

 eastern fox sparrow, Passerella iliaca, the northwest coast Townsend 

 sparrow (sometimes considered under the name townsendi, sometimes 

 under that of unalascJicensis) , and the western thick-billed sparrow 

 {megarhynchus), of uncertain relationship with the slate-colored 

 {schistacea) . 



No resume of the historical side of the study of the genus Passerella 

 would be complete without full recognition of the valuable paper 



