258 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 24 



The bird collection of this Museum contains sixty-three specimens 

 of rufina from the islands and mainland of southeastern Alaska, rep- 

 resenting many island localities and several points on the mainland. 

 The largest series from any one place is that from Sergief Island. 

 The Alaskan series as a whole displays considerable variation, in color, 

 in general size, and in size and shape of bill. "Whether these differences 

 can be correlated with different habitats, island and mainland, or 

 whether they are merely differences between individual specimens, 

 cannot be settled with the material at hand ; there are too few breed- 

 ing birds from any one place. The variation is considerable, and it 

 includes breeding birds that are just like the Telegraph Creek speci- 

 mens. For the present, at least, the whole aggregation had best be left 

 under the name rufina. 



There is one kind of departure from the normal rufina that is com- 

 prehensible, and that is a variation illustrated in many individuals 

 tending toward caurina, the subspecies breeding just north of the 

 habitat of rufina. This trend is especially noticeable among the birds 

 collected upon Sergief Island in August and September, birds which 

 I believe were mostly migrants from the north. Typical rufina and 

 caurina are widely different in appearance, in size, color, and shape 

 of bill, but there are specimens at hand forming almost every link in 

 a chain connecting one extreme with the other. The same individual, 

 however, does not necessarily exhibit the same intermediate condition 

 in all characters ; there are various combinations in different specimens. 



TABLE X 



Measurements in millimeters (average, minimum and maximum) 

 of Melospiza melodia rufina 



Wing Tail Culmen Depth of bill 



10 adult males from 



the coast of southeastern 



Alaska' 68.4 (66.2-71.5) 64.8 (60.0-70.0) 12.2 (11.2-12.8) 6.7 (6.0-7.0) 



6 adult males from 



the upper 



Stikine river^ 67.0 (65.0-71.0) 65.9 (62.0-70.0) 12.2 (11.5-12.8) 6.5 (6.0-7.0) 



^Glacier Bay, 1; Admiralty Island, 2; Chichagof Island, 1; Kuiu Island, 3; Prince of Wales 

 Island, 1; Warren Island, 1; Sergief Island, 1. 



^Telegraph Creek, 3; Doch-da-on Creek, 3. 



During our stay at Sergief Island (August 17 to September 7) it 

 was evident that there was more or less migratory movement of song 

 sparrows. The numbers present fluctuated from day to day in a way 

 that could not otherwise be explained. Typical examples of caurina 

 were taken from time to time, as noted elsewhere in this report, which, 



