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108 THE CONDOR Vol. XXII 
ing stars, looming large and resplendent, Venus with great shining face stand- 
ing high over the prairie. And then, they in turn were followed by the rich 
red band that presaged the coming of the morning. 
Days beginning with sunrises of orange and red, ended perhaps with a 
lake of gleaming silver, the sunset a serene green with only delicate touches of 
red, perhaps with an orange sky behind the straggling tree border of the lake, 
or with a flamboyant afterglow sending continental funnels of color high in 
the sky. 
Whatever turn they took the days were days of glory, and although | had 
to leave for another time that most wonderful ornithological experience, the 
northern flight of waterfowl, my summer had already had full measure and 
I left with mental gallery crowded with bird pictures, with pulses quickened 
by the stirring northern days, with mind swept clear by prairie winds, and 
with spirit uplifted by memories of gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, of brilliant 
morning stars, of marvelous star-filled firmaments, and illuminated auroral 
skies. 
Washington, D. C., June 16, 1917. 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
The Eastern Savannah Sparrow and the Aleutian Savannah Sparrow at Tacoma, 
Washington.—The Savannah Sparrow group is represented at Tacoma during different 
times in the year by no less than four varieties, but it was not until the fall of 1919 that 
I was able to actually take specimens of the Aleutian Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus 
sandwichensis sandwichensis). The first, a male, and evidently a young of the year, 
was taken on October 12, while sitting on a fence in company with a large number of 
Savannah Sparrows. Its dark coloring, sluggish actions, and much larger size at once 
showed it to be different from its companions, with which the tidewater marsh was 
swarming. Upon returning to the same locality on October 30, I was successful in 
collecting another male of the same species, an adult this time, and saw what I am 
positive from their actions were two or three others. The difference in actions between 
this species and the rest of the group is so striking as to at once arouse my suspicion as 
to their being different. When I first saw this bird it flushed almost under my feet 
when I was stalking some ducks, instead of flying at from twenty to thirty yards as the 
other Savannahs all do. I at once lost all interest in the ducks and went in pursuit of 
my sparrow. After walking up and down where I had “marked” it, I saw it standing 
watching me some ten feet away, and it ran instead of flying. In fact I very nearly did 
not get this bird in my efforts to study its habits before collecting it. 
On September 20, 1919, I collected on the same tide-flats an adult male Eastern 
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis savanna), which was in the company of 
a large number of others that were apparently of the same kind. All three of the above 
mentioned specimens were kindly identified for me by Mr. Joseph Grinnell. Judging 
from specimens taken in past years I believe this form is an extremely abundant fall 
migrant, although I have never seen it in the spring migration. 
It may be of interest to state that our breeding form in western Washington is 
the Brooks Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis brooksi), a very small, light- 
colored bird, barely five and a quarter inches long. They arrive from the south usually 
in the latter part of March, although a few are sometimes found much earlier, and they 
leave for the south again very early in September. The most northern record that I have 
for this form is a nest with six eggs in my collection taken, with the parent bird, on a 
