Xo. 627] SHORTER ARTICLES AND DISCUSSION 471 



tlio ])asis ot Linnaeus s name, becomes Passer donusticvs domes- 

 ficHs. and the sparrow of England Kleinschmidt names (cited 

 mider date 1915, thoujjh I have not seen the original description 

 iiivsdf^ Parser donie^ticus ho^idi^ As pointed out b> Ober 

 holser (1917, p. 329), since the American stock came from Eng- 

 land our bird must also be known under this name. And fur- 

 thermore, the vernacular term. European house sparrow, which 

 some people have preferred because of a fancied unpleasant 

 association in the name English sparrow^ can not be used prop- 

 erly for the American bird. 



The point I wish to make now is that the English sparrow, 

 which IS spread all over the United btatcs. is itself a subspecies 

 ot a wide ranging and decidedlv variable species which is thus, 

 geographicallv speaking, quite like our American song sparrow, 

 or the horned lark. In the Old World, each race "stavs put" 

 as regards aggregate ot population, each m its own taimal area 

 just as do our own song sparrows. All of these races are non- 

 migiatoi\ /"(/sicr dom<!>tiCHS hostdis Klemsdimidt is also non 

 migratory, as far as T have been able to learn, wherever it now 

 occurs, north and south, in America. But here, by reason ot its 

 marvellous powers ot accommodation, and finding no competitor 

 m (\actl\ its own (lologic nuhe it has giaduallj advanced its 



