The Song Sparrows 



of parent bird. Eggs of pusillula, for example, are notabl}' smaller than those of 

 caurina, etc. Season: April (March, saltonis) —July; two or three broods. 



General Range of Melospiza melodia. — North America from Alaska and central 

 eastern Canada south to southern border of Mexican plateau. 



Range of M. m. caurina. — Breeds along the coast of the St. Elias district in 

 Alaska from Yakutat Bay to Lituya Bay (Ridgway); winters on the coasts and islands 

 of southeastern Alaska (vicinity of Juneau: Swarth) ; and irregularly southward. 



Occurrence in California. — Two records: Eureka, Feb. 20, 1910, by C. I. 

 Clay (Grinnell); and Fortuna, Humboldt County, Sept. 19, 1915, by Huey. 



Authorities. — Grinnell, Condor, vol. xii., 1910, p. 174 (Eureka) ; Swarth, Univ. 

 Calif. Pub. Zool., vol. vii., 1911, p. 90 (Alaska; crit.j ; Dickey, Condor, vol. xxiv., 1922, 

 p. 65 (Fortuna, Humboldt Co.). 



AT THE OUTSET of our study of the particular races of Melospiza 

 melodia we are confronted by a form which is not only strikingly different 

 in appearance from any of our resident birds, but highly specialized in 

 habits as well. Caurina hails from that most inhospitable coast of Alaska 

 which borders the St. Elias Range. And because the major valleys are 

 occupied by glaciers, and the smaller water-courses are too steep or too 

 barren to afford suitable cover, the Yakutat Song Sparrow is confined to 

 the narrow fringe of the sea-beaches. And because the winters here are 

 more severe than elsewhere, caurina forsakes its summer home, displacing 

 rufina in the northern portions of the latter's range, and straggling irregu- 

 larly southward. 



The extreme southern example, and the only recorded specimen for 

 California, a female (now in the M. C. O. collection), was taken February 

 20, 1910, near Eureka, in Humboldt County, by C. Irvin Clay. Mr. Clay 

 first saw the bird on January 17th, and noted it on four subsequent occa- 

 sions previous to capture. It haunted a certain stretch of beach, and 

 was so devoted to it that it would return by a circuitous route as often 

 as it was crowded out of bounds; and it took care when pursued to slip 

 along under cover of the driftwood, guiding its course by sundry peri- 

 scopic glimpses over logs, and taking to wing only when close pressed. 

 This attachment to the beach would in itself distinguish an Alaskan 

 visitor; but caurina is a half larger than cleonensis, the resident form, and 

 very much darker. 



No. 62b Rusty Song Sparrow 



A. O. U. No. 58ie and 581L Melospiza melodia rufina (Bonaparte). 



Synonym. — Sooty Song Sparrow (applied to northern section of species). 



Description. — Adults (sexes alike) in fresh fall plumage, and Immatures: As 

 compared with interior races, pattern of upperparts and sides much blended, the 



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