OUR SPARROWS 5 1 



The Linnaean description as compared with modern day descrip- 

 tions is rather incomplete ; in so far as it goes, however, it is char- 

 acteristic of the plant that has generally been known as Panicum 

 glabrum Gaud. Likewise, by the process of eliminating all related 

 species which it can not possibly be, we gradually come to the sam^ 

 species, Panicum glabrum Gaud. The last sentence of the Linnaan 

 description referring to the exterior glume spreading and adhering 

 to the rachis is not always apparent but I have seen just such a 

 condition in some specimens of Digitaria humifusa collected in 

 Michigan. This species is not usually accredited to the "Indies" 

 in botanical manuals but Hooker 1. c, 17, gives it for the Himalaya 

 Mts. and as far south as Simla, and the Index Kewensis to North 

 Temperate and Tropical regions. Perhaps Linnaeus was mis- 

 informed as to its distribution and as happened in other cases with 

 him, gave accordingly a wrong habitat. The more important 

 synonyms are given below. 



Digitaria linearis (Linn.) Pers. Syn. i, 85, 1805; Crep. Man. ed. 

 2, 335, 1866. Panicum linearis Linn. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, Vol. i, 85, 1762; 

 Burm. Fl. Ind. 25 pi. 10 fig. 2 (3), 1768; Krock. Fl. vSiles. i, 95, 

 1787. Syntherisma linearis (Linn.) Nash, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 

 XXII, 420. 1895. Panicum Ischaemum Schreb. ex Schweigg. 

 Spec. Fl. Erlang, I, 16, 1804. Digitaria humifusa Pers., 1. c. 

 Paspalum ambiguum Lam. and D. C., Fl. Fr. Ill, 16, 1805. Syn- 

 therisma glabrum Schrad. Fl. Germ. 163, t. 3. fig. 7, 1806. 



I wish to thank Dr. Nieuwland of Notre Dame for courtesies 

 shown me in connection with this study. 



Department of Botany, 



Park, Davis & Co., Detroit, Mich. 



Our Sparrows. 



BY BROTHER ALPHONSUS, C. S. C. 



In this article I have not made an exhaustive study of each 

 species, but have given their more striking characteristics as these 

 were learned through observation. As the Song Sparrow is the 

 commonest of all our sparrows, as well as the most gifted as a 

 songster, I have written a fuller account of this species. Four 

 sparrows — Henslow's, Lark, Swamp, and Savanna — are either rare 



