36 
THE CONDOR 
I Vol. IV 
bust child decided to leave. As it 
spread its wings to fly away the weak- 
ling brother fell to the ground. Kind 
hands rescued it, the torn nest was care- 
fully drawn together and it placed 
within, for we supposed, of course, the 
mother w'ould come to feed it, but she 
did not. All day it lay without food. 
That night a rain came, and the next 
day it seemed chilled and almost life- 
less. Flowers were placed near it that 
it might find food within — if it would. 
Another cold night passed, and we 
thought the life of the little one w'ould 
be ended, but when the warm sun came 
it raised itself, stretched first one wing 
then the other, and with a last look at 
its human friends darted away to be 
lost in bird-land. 
The Oregon Song Sparrow. 
HY WALTER K. FISHER. 
M r. Joseph Grinnell has generously placed at my disposal a series of four- 
teen curious dark song sparrows collected by Mr. Edmund Heller at Cres- 
cent City, California, and along the coast of southern Oregon. A com- 
parison of the series with some excellent unworn examples of the Mendocino, 
rusty, and sooty song sparrows in the National Museum and Biological Survey 
collections proves that the form is undescribed, as Mr. Grinnell thought when he 
forwarded me the specimens. 
Melospiza cinerea phaea new subspecies. 
OREGON .SONG SR.-^RROW. 
Type, (5 ad.. No. 4974, Coll. Joseph Grinnell; Gardiner, mouth of Umpqua R., Oregon, Dec. 
I, 1901; collected by Edmund Heller. 
Subspecific characters. — Intermediate in size between Melospiza cinerea cleo7iensis and 
31. c. rnorphna but darker than either; in general color and markings nearly identical with 
Melospiza cinerea rufina. but much smaller. Measurements of type in millimeters: wing, 68; 
tail, 65; exposed culrnen, ii; depth ofbill at base 6.5; tarsus 22.5. 
Distribution. — Immediate vicinity of coast from Rogue R. to Yaquina, Oregon. 
Measurements of type series compared with r/wcrcrt M.c. morphna. and 
3F. c. cleonensis. 
wing. 
Tail. 
Cnlmen. 
Crescent City 
(5 
Sept. 15 
61. 
58. 
10.5 
62. 
60. 
10.5 
6 ad 
“ 
62.3 
61.5 
10.75 
Goldbeach, Or. 
6 ad 
0 
0 
0 
64. 
6.3. 
II. 
“ 
6 
(( 
61, 
61. 
II. 
Gardiner, Or. 
6 ad 
Dec. I 
65- 
60. 
II. 
( « 
6 ad 
65- 
60. 
II. 
“ 
6 ad 
‘ ‘ 
68. 
65- 
II. 
6 
‘ ‘ 
65- 
65- 
II. 
“ 
<$ 
67. 
65. 
II. 
Yaquina, Or. 
3 
Oct. 31, ’94 
62. 
62. 
II. 
Average ii <5 5 
64. 
62.4 
II. 
Goldbeach 
? 
Oct. 10 
65- 
63. 
II. 
? 
( ( 
63- 
60. 
II. 
Gardiner 
? 
Dec. I 
61. 
61. 
10. 
“ 
? 
‘ ‘ 
63- 
60. 
>1-5 
Average, 4 ? $ 
63- 
61. 
JI. 
rufina-. average. 
5 (5 6 
72.1 
70.1 
12.4 (Ridgway) 
13 ?? 
67. 
63-5 
12.2 “ 
morphna-. “ 
20 6 6 
67.8 
66. 
12.9 “ 
( « ( ( 
13 ? ? 
65- 
63- 
12.4 
cleonensis “ 
13 6 6 
61.7 
59-9 
11.9 
9 ?? 
594 
.58.1 
11.9 
