386 Birds of Colorado 
with brown ; below white, washed with pale buffy and ashy, except 
on the throat and abdomen; a white supraloral and black submalar 
streak ; iris brown ; upper mandible dusky, lower paler. Length 6-10; 
wing 2-60 ; tail 2-90 ; culmen -42 ; tarsus -80. 
The sexes are alike ; the young birds are duller brown above, streaked 
with grey and ashy below, finely streaked with dusky on the breast. 
Distribution.— Western Texas to Arizona, south to north-western 
Mexico, north to southern Colorado, in which State it has only once 
been met with. A. H. Howell collected an immature example on 
September 17th, 1903, on a pifion ridge near Trinidad in the south 
of the State. It was evidently migrating southwards. 
Genus MELOSPIZA. 
Medium-sized Sparrow-like forms with u comparatively small wing, 
usually under 3-0, and a bill of varying proportions ; wing short and 
rounded, barely reaching the base of the tail ; the ninth (outer) primary 
equal to or less than the fourth; tail long, nearly equal to or exceeding 
the wing ; slightly rounded or double rounded. Plumage conspicuously 
streaked above and below (except M. georgiana). 
This genus includes three species only ; one of which (M. melodia) 
has been sub-divided into a very large number of varying local races 
chiefly occurring on the Pacific coast. Twenty of these are recognized 
by Ridgway. The range of the genus includes the whole of North and 
Central America as far as Panama. 
A. Below white, with brown streaks on the breast and flanks. 
a. Larger—wing averaging 2-85—but with a smaller bill 
proportionally. M. m. montana, p. 386. 
b. Smaller—wing averaging 2-60—but with a larger bill 
proportionally. M. melodia, p. 388. 
B. Below with a buffy band across the chest, and flanks streaked 
with black. M. lincolni, p. 388. 
C. Below chiefly ashy, not streaked. M. georgiana, p. 390. 
Mountain Song-Spatrow. Melospiza melodia montana. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 581b—Colorado Records—Allen 72, pp. 147, 
157 (M. melodia); Henshaw 75, p. 281 (M. melodia fallax); Tresz 
81, p. 42; Allen & Brewster 83, p. 189 (M. fasciata fallax); Drew 85, 
p. 16; Beckham 85, p. 141; Kellogg 90, p. 90; McGregor 97, p. 38 ; 
Cooke 97, pp. 19, 107, 216 ; Keyser 02, pp. 133, 193 ; Dille 03, p. 74; 
Henderson 03, p. 108; 09, p. 237; Gilman 07, p. 157; Warren 08, 
p. 23; 09, p. 16; Richards 08, p. 38 ; Rockwell 08, p. 173; Hersey & 
Rockwell 09, p. 120. 
