BIRDS FRINGILLIDAE PASSERCULUS SAVANNA. 
443 
Sp. Ch. — Feathers of the upper parts generally with a central streak of blackish brown ; the streaks of the back with a 
slight rufous suffusion laterally ; the feathers edged with gray, which is lightest on the scapulars. Crown with a broad median 
stripe of yellowish gray. A superciliary streak from the bill to the back of the head, eyelids, and edge of the elbow, yellow. 
A yellowish white maxillary stripe curving behind the ear coverts, and margined above and below by brown. The lower 
margin is a series of thickly crowded spots on the sides of the throat, which are also found on the sides of the neck, across the 
upper part of the breast, and on the sides of body. A few spots on the throat and chin. Rest of under parts white. Outer 
tail feather and primary edged with white. Length, 5.50 ; wing, 2.70 ; tail, 2.10. 
Hub. — Eastern North America to the Missouri plains. 
In this species the bill is rather short ; the tarsus and middle toe with its claw about equal. 
The wing is acute ; the first quill longest ; the tertiaries as long as the primaries. The tail is 
short and somewhat forked ; the feathers narrow and rather acute, but rounded at the tips. 
The spots on the under parts of the body have a rufous suffusion externally, scarcely appre- 
ciable on the breast in spring specimens. The outside edges of all the wing feathers, excepting 
the primary quills have a yellowish rufous tinge more conspicuous than elsewhere on the body. 
There is sometimes a tinge of greenish on the smaller wing coverts. 
With a considerable number of specimens from the western coast at hand I have been much 
puzzled to decide how many species there are, and upon their relationship to P. savanna. One 
series from Oregon and Washington Territory is much the largest, considerably exceeding the 
P. savanna of the east. These agree exactly with a specimen from Sitka, collected by 
Wosnessjensky, the taxidermist of the St. Petersburg Academy, and labelled Zonotrichia 
chrysops, Pallas, probably by Brandt. Another series is composed of specimens that are smaller, 
though varying considerably in size, and the bill is generally slenderer. In one (5554) the 
superciliary stripe has only a faint tinge of yellow, and the colors are rather paler than common. 
The spots on the breast are rather sparser than usual. The bill is rather slenderer than in 
eastern specimens, but instead of being shorter is actually longer. This agrees with specimens 
from Northeastern Mexico in Lieutenant Couch's collection. Other specimens have the yellow 
as bright, that on the axillaries even brighter, than in any eastern ones ; the spots blacker and 
more numerous, extending over the whole breast. In another, otherwise similar, the bill is 
unusually long, and the spots on the middle of the breast are aggregated into a larger one. 
Without feeling assured of an actual specific difference I shall follow Bonaparte in referring 
the large billed series to P. chrysops of Pallas, (sandwichensis ;) that with the gray colors, few 
pectoral spots, whitish superciliary stripe, and attenuated bill to P. alaudinus ; and that with 
dark colors, yellow superciliary stripe, and numerous pectoral spots to P. anthinus. 
