SPIZELLA. 379 



A common species throughout the central portion of North America, from the 

 Saskatchewan, where it was discovered by Eichardson, southwards through Texas, 

 to the highlands of Southern Mexico, its place being taken in the Western and 

 South-western States, as well as in North-western Mexico, by the closely allied *S^. 

 hreweri. 



The Mexican specimens we have seen all seem to be in winter plumage, and it is 

 most probable that the bird is present in Mexico only in the winter season, and that it 

 migrates thence northwards in spring to its breeding-quarters. Of its occurrence 

 within our territory we have nothing but the bare record of localities. 



The nesting-habits of *S'. pallida are described in the ' History of North American 

 Birds ' ''. The nest is placed in a tree or shrub, two or three feet from the ground, 

 sometimes more, and is loosely made of grasses, and lined with hair. The eggs are 

 light blue tinged with green and marked round the larger end with spots and blotches 

 of purplish brown. 



4. Spizella breweri. 



Spizella breweri, Cass. Pr. Ac. Phil. 1856, p. 40'; Baird, Mex. Bound. Surv. ii., Birds, p. 16'; 



Belding, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. vi. p. 343 '; Coues, Key N. Am. B. ed. 3, p. 381*. 

 Spizella pallida var. breweri, Baird, Brew., & Eidgw. N. Am. B. ii. p. 13 '. 



S. pallidce similis, sed striis corporis supra angustioribus, iis capitis summi undique dispersis, vitta mediana 

 pallida nulla. 



Hah. NoETH Ameeica, S. W. States, New Mexico^ Arizona * ^. — Mexico, Boca Grande 

 {Kennerly ^), Guaymas {Belding % Ciudad in Durango (Forrer). 



A specimen sent us by Mr. Forrer from the State of Durango certainly belongs to 

 this race of S. pallida, and the bird has also been noticed within our fauna by Kennerly 

 at Boca Grande, and by Mr. Belding at Guaymas. 



The characters by which S. breweri is distinguished from S. pallida seem to be fairly 

 definite, the uniform striation of the crown at once rendering it easily recognized. In 

 S. pallida the crown has dark sides where the striations are concentrated, leaving a 

 light central streak which passes from the forehead to the nape. 



Nothing is recorded of S. Ireweri in Mexico beyond localities where it has been 

 found. In the States it is familiar to most of the ornithologists who have worked 

 between the Eocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, in California, and southwards 

 through Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Mr. Eidgway, who observed it in 

 numbers at Sacramento and elsewhere, speaks highly of its powers of song, which he 

 says fully equal those of the Canary. The eggs are described as marked and blotched 

 with scattered markings of a golden-brown colour, these blotches being larger and more 

 conspicuous than in the eggs of any other allied species ^. 



