The Savanna Sparrows 



Authorities. — Grinnell, Univ. Calif. Pub. Zool.,5, 1910, pp. 312-316 (orig. desc); 

 Bishop, Condor, vol. xvii., 1915, pp. 186-187 (crit.) ; Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 

 II, 1915, pp. 113-114 (range); Mailliard, J., Condor, vol. xxi., 1919, p. 75. 



No. 4ld Dwarf Savanna Sparrow 



A. O. U. No. 542b, part. Passerculus sandwichensis brooksi Bishop. 



Description. — "Nearest in size of P. s. bryanti, but with slightly longer wing and 

 tail, slightly smaller bill, and shorter tarsus; much paler in coloring, with the dark 

 central stripes much narrower both above and below, and the rusty paler. Smaller, 

 but with relatively longer bill than P. s. alaudinus and P. s. nevadensis ; much paler 

 and with less rusty in plumage of upperparts than P. s. alaudinus; closely resembling 

 P. s. nevadensis in color, but slightly darker and more brownish above, with the supra- 

 loral stripe broader and richer, and with the auricular region, nape and sides of neck 

 washed with buff, these differences showing best in birds of fresh winter plumage" 

 (orig. desc). Av. of 8 males (after Bishop): wing 66.9 (2.63); tail 46.6 (1.83); bill 10 

 (.39); depth at base 5.8 (.23); tarsus 20.1 (.79). 



Range of P. s. brooksi. — Described by Bishop from specimens taken at Sumas 

 and Chilliwack, B. C, supplemented by two (male and female) taken August 19, 

 1909, on Humboldt Bay. Probably the coast district of British Columbia and Wash- 

 ington, intergrading toward Humboldt Bay with bryanti. (I cannot believe that 

 these August specimens from Humboldt Bay were really migrants.) Also reported 

 by Mailliard as the breeding bird of Del Norte County. 



Occurrence in California. — As above. 



Authorities. — Bishop, Condor, vol. xvii., 1915, pp. 187-188 (at Humboldt Bay); 

 Mailliard, Condor, vol. xxiii., Sept., 1921, p. 164. 



SINCE nine of the eleven recognized forms of Passerculus are accred- 

 ited to California, it may be in order to review the whole group briefly. 



The genus Passerculus is a clearly definable and substantially homo- 

 geneous one. So nearly uniform is it that, save for the circumstance of 

 insularity connected with P. princeps (and no less with P. rostratus 

 sanctorum, for which, however, a specific value is not claimed), it is 

 debatable whether there is really more than one species, viz., P. sand- 

 wichensis. However opinions may differ as to the existence of recog- 

 nizable intergrades between P. s. sandwichensis and P. s. alaudinus, 

 or between P. s. bryanti and P. beldingi, or between the last named and 

 P. rostratus, it is certain that these coupled comparisons indicate the 

 lines of closest and most recent relationship. The fortunes of the incipient 

 species and subspecies have been so clearly influenced by the factors of 

 isolation and climatic control, that it may be worth while to set the 

 whole case before us: P. princeps is an insular form breeding on Sable 

 Island, Nova Scotia, and wintering along the Atlantic Coast; P. s. 

 sandwichensis is the robust form localized upon Unalaska and contiguous 

 islands, but retiring in winter along the Pacific Coast; P. s. savanna, 

 P. s. alaudinus, P. s. nevadensis, and P. s. brooksi, all barely differen- 



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