PA88EECULUS. 381 



Passerculus savanna, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 131 " ; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 534 ' ; 



Bennett, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. v. p. 390 ". 

 Passerculus alaudinus, Bp. Compt. Rend, xxxvii. p. 918 ' ; Baird, Mex. Bound. Surv. ii.. Birds, 



p. 15 8 ; Sol. P. Z. S. 1858, p. 303 » ; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1860, p. 398 " ; Dresser, Ibis, 1865,' 



p. 487 " j Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 552 ^\ 

 Passerculus savanna var. alaudinus Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 537"; Lawr. Bull. 



U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 21 ". 

 Passerculus sandvicensis alaudinus, Coues, Key N. Am. B. ed. 2 p. 363'°. 



Supra fuscus, plumis singulis medialiter nigris, vertice medio fere immaculato, superciliis a naribus paUide 

 flavidis, stria per oculos indistiqote nigra ; alis et cauda fusco-nigris pallide fusuo limbatis ; subtus albus, 

 cervicis lateribus, pectore efc hypoehondriis nigro guttulatis ; rostro corneo, mandibula palHda, pedibus 

 carneis. Long, tota 5'0, alae 2-8, caud^ 2-1, rostri a rictu 0-5, tarsi 0-75. (Descr. exempl. ex Duenas, 

 Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. North America generally 2 5 13^ Texas ^ n.— Mexico 4, Tamaulipas {Couch s), Vera 

 Cruz {Sumichrast ^^), La Parada {Boucard % Tehuantepec city {Sumichrast i*) ; 

 Guatemala, Duenas 10, Coban, Peten, Retalhuleu {0. S. & F. B. G.). 



The North American specimens of this Finch were at one time divided into several 

 species which have since been reduced to races, and these again, so far as we can see, 

 should be merged into one variable form, at least so far as P. sandwichensis is concerned 

 and its immediate forms P. savanna and P. alaudinus. P. anthinus of the coast of 

 California, with its darker back and more heavily spotted breast, we think, may prove 

 to be distinct, but our materials are not sufficient to form a definite opinion, and the 

 question does not immediately concern the present work. P. rostratus and P. princeps 

 appear to be quite distinct. 



The characters by which the races of P. sandwichensis have been divided are almost 

 wholly of size, strength of bill, and length of wing, but their dimensions overlap. The 

 wing of a specimen from Guatemala is as long as another from Onalaska though the 

 bill is much smaller. Moreover there seems to be no portion of the continent of 

 North America unoccupied by this Sparrow, and the evidence that its varied forms 

 blend into one another by insensible steps seems complete. We note, however, that 

 the birds of the Western and Middle States and those of Mexico have, on an average, 

 smaller, more delicate bills than those of the Eastern States, and still more than those 

 of the high north, the true P. sandwichensis. 



Though apparently resident in Texas, Mr. Sennett having observed it as late as May 

 at Lomita in the Kio Grande valley^, it seems it is doubtful whether it is more than a 

 winter visitor to Mexico and Guatemala ; Sumichrast ^^ gives it as such in the State of 

 Vera Cruz, and other authorities record its presence between the months of November 

 and March. It is apparently absent from Western Mexico until we reach the State of 

 Oaxaca and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec ; in Guatemala it is pretty generally distributed 

 but nowhere numerous, frequenting low shrubs on the banks of streams and lakes. 



The nest is. described ^ as always sunk in the ground and loosely constructed of dry 



