362 
SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSEBES — OSCINES. 
■ parts grayish-brown, witli blackish rufous-edged centres of the feathers ', median crown-stripe 
not strong, and scarcely yellowish ; a whitish superciliary stripe, not yellow anteriorly ; ear- 
coverts grayish, with a rufous tinge. Scapulars, coverts and secondaries blackish-brown, 
broadly edged with rufous, brightest on the secondaries ; scapulars also edged with white, and 
both median and greater coverts white-tipped. Tail brownish, tipped and edged with whitish. 
Whole under parts white, breast and sides of throat and body streaked, the streaks dusky- 
centred, rufous-edged. Bill dark brown, base of under mandible paler ; eyes and feet brown. 
Length 6.30 ; extent 11.00 ; wing 3.25 ; tail 2.60 ; bill 0.45 ; tarsus 0.95 ; middle toe and 
claw 1.05 ; hind toe and claw 0.72. (Foregoing condensed from original description of the 
type, taken in winter. Following as redescribed by Ridgway.) Bill of size and shape as in 
P. hairdi exactly inner secondaries little lengthened. Outstretched feet not reaching to end 
of tail. In color almost exactly as in P. rostratus, but different in markings ; above light 
ashy, the dorsal feathers light sandy-brown centrally, their shafts black. Surface of wings pale 
sandy-brown, the feathers darker-centred ; inner secondaries with whitish outer webs, and con- 
spicuous black central field. Crown becoming darker brown anteriorly, where an indistinct 
median line of ochrey-white ; an indistinct superciliary stripe, and conspicuous maxillary stripe 
of the same, the latter bordered above by a narrow dusky stripe ; lores and cheeks like the 
superciliary stripe ; auriculars like crown. Below, white, slightly ashy on flanks } whole breast 
and sides of body with narrow streaks of blackish-centred sandy-brown ; beUy, crissum, and 
lining of wings immaculate ; throat with a few minute specks, but on each side a bridle of 
suffuse streaks. 9: wing 2.90 ; tail 2.40 ; culmenO.50; tarsus 0.85. (Following notes taken 
by me of a specimen received from Maynard; 9> Ipswich, Oct. 18, 1872: No. 73,553, Mus. 
S. I.) About size of largest P. sandvicensis from Alaska. No trace of yellow on head or 
wing. Upper parts even paler and grayer than extreme of P. alaudinus from the West — the 
streaks of upper parts having only shaft-lines of blackish-brown, brown-edged, the edges 
of the feathers finally gray ; nape, rump, and upper tail-coverts gray, scarcely streaked at 
all. Crown streaked like interscapulars, but in smaller pattern 5 divided by a median light 
line. A long whitish (not yellowish) superciliary line ; lore gray below this. Inner second- 
aries and greater coverts blackish, broadly edged on outer webs with bay, fading to 'whitish at 
tips ; median coverts similar, but more noticeably whitish-tipped ; these edgings of wing- 
feathers making the strongest coloration of all the upper parts. Below, white ; throat and 
middle of belly only immaculate, flanks a little shaded with gray ; whole breast, sides of neck 
and body, and crissum, with brown streaks, pale in comparison with those of P. savana, 
and rather suffuse. On the sides of head below auriculars the stripes tend to form two chains 
— a maxillary one and another above it separated by an immaculate interval. Resembles P. 
rostratus in diffuse grayish coloration and lack (^f yellow on head or wing. Looks as a hybrid 
between P. savana and Pocecetes might be supposed to do." Seems distinct, but not firmly estab- 
lished as a species. Coast of New England, especially sand-hills of the Massachusetts coast ; 
general range unknown ; perhaps a local race. Curiously similar in some respects to the 
Californian litoral form P. rostratus. 
226. P. sandvicen'sis. (Of the Sandwich, one of the Aleutian Islands.) Similar to the ordinary 
savanna sparrow: averaging in size about the maximum of the latter: length about 6.00 ; wing 
3.00; tail 2.25 ; culmen 0.45 ; depth of bill at base 0.25; tarsus, and middle toe and claw, 
each, 0.80. Bill nearly tmce as bulky as that of ordinary savana. A firm bright yellow super- 
ciliary stripe from nostril to eye, thence fading over auriculars (i. c., chrysops. Pall.) Under 
parts precisely as in savana; upper similar, but grayer— less rufous and more gray in the 
edgings of the feathers. Such are the peculiarities of a specimen from the very spot whence 
Latham and Pennant describe their bird ; they are appreciable on laying the skin alongside a 
large varying series of Eastern savana. Alaska. But it does not follow that all the Alaskan 
and Aleutian savanna sparrows are like this. 
