1 8 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. VII 
The California Sage Sparrow 
BY JOSEPH GRINNET.I, 
— • Amphispiza belli canescens new subspecies. 
Subspecific Characters — Resembles Amphispiza belli belli , but size somewhat greater, 
and coloration throughout very much paler; resembles Amphispiza belli nevadensis , but size very 
much less, and coloration slightly darker. 
Type — <$ adult; No. 5789, Coll. J. G.; Seymour Creek Meadow, 5500 feet elevation, Mount 
Pinos, Ventura County, California; June 27, 1904; collected by J. Grinnell. 
Description— Lower surface white; sides, flanks and crjssum faintly tinged with oehraceous 
buff, the former with narrow inconspicuous dusky shaft-streaks; sides of chest more distinctly 
streaked with slate; spot in middle of breast, submaxillary stripe, lores, region immediately 
beneath eyes, and extreme forehead, slate; spots above lores, one on forehead just back of cul- 
men, eyelids, maxillary region and throat, pure white; rest of head, including auricular region, 
sides of neck and nape, clear gray; back and rump drab gray; middle of back with narrow dusky 
shaft-streaks; wings and tail blackish, strongly edged with pale clay color; outer web of outer 
tail-feather, and inner web of same for about 2 millimeters at tip, abruptly white. 
Measureme n t s — 
A. b. nevadensis ( Wing 
Av. 80.2 
Max. 82.5 
Min. 7S 
6 6 6 
( Tail 
Av. 81.2 
Max. 85.5 
Min. 79 
A. b. nevadensis 
1 Wing 
Av. 74.1 
Max. 75 
Min. 73 
4 ? ? 
'( Tail 
Av. 76 
Max. 76.5 
Min, 75 
A. b. canescens 
1 Wing 
Av. 71 
Max. 73 
Min. 69 
10 $ $ 
} Tail 
Av. 77 
Max. 79 
Min. 74 
A. b. canescens 
t Wing 
Av. 67 
Max. 68 
Min. 65 
7 ? ? 
1 Tail 
Av. 73 
Max. 75 
Min. 71 
A. b. belli 
\ Wing 
Av. 67.8 
Max. 71 
Min. 65 
12 $6 
/ Tail 
Av. 74.2 
Max. 77.5 
Min. 70 
A. b. belli 
i Wing 
Av. 64.7 
Max. 66.5 
Min. 63 
i3 ? ? 
i Tail 
Av. 71 
Max. 73 
Min. 68 
Range — The elevated Upper Sonoran and Transition sage valleys of the southern Sierras of 
California, slightly migratory to lower levels in winter. Specimens examined from: Piute Mts., 
northeastern Kern Co.; lower Cuddy Canyon, southern Kern Co., near Tejon Pass; valleys in im- 
mediate vicinity of Mt. Pinos, Ventura Co.; near Pine Flats, head of Tujunga Canyon, Sierra 
San Gabriel, Los Angeles Co.; San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles Co. (winter); Whitewater, 
Riverside Co. (winter). 
Remarks — This is the form which myself and others have repeatedly recorded 
from Los Angeles county as nevadensis. But that the two are altogether different 
is readily seen on comparison of the Los Angeles county specimens with true 
nevadensis from Nevada, Arizona, and the Colorado desert in southeastern Califor- 
nia. (In the latter two localities nevadensis occurs only in winter.) Although 
canescens presents characters in the aggregate fairly intermediate between belli 
and nevadensis , the gap is so definite between canescens and belli , that were it not 
for current rulings being overwhelmingly against it, I should not hesitate to con- 
sider them specifically distinct. Each of the three forms occupies separate breed- 
ing areas. But in the mountains of Los Angeles county, as I have already noted 
{Auk, XV, Jan. 1898, p. 58), canescens (recorded as nevadensis) and belli doubtless 
breed within a very short distance of one another. This is also probable in Ven- 
tura county where Mr. O. W. Howard has taken several sets of eggs of the “sage 
sparrow” {canescens) in Lockwood Valley three to five miles southeast of Mt. Pinos. 
The fact that in the extensive series of Amphispizae in the collection of the Cali- 
fornia Academy of Sciences, as well as among mv own specimens, not a single in- 
termediate is to be found between canescens and belli (or canescens and nevadensis , 
for that matter) argues for the distinctness of the forms. There is but one record 
that I can find of “intermediates” between belli and nevadensis. Dr. A. K. Fisher 
states in the Death Valley Report (N. Am. Fauna No. 7, May 1893, p. 98) that “the 
