396 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
buffy suffusion covering the breast.” He mentions examining thirty 
specimens. He also speaks of a small tuft of white feathers at the 
base of the primary coverts. 
Reginald Heber Howe, Jr., gave the Labrador bird a subspecific 
rank as Passerculus sandwichensis labradorius but this form was not 
recognized by the American ornithologists’ union. His description 
is as follows: 
“Type, from Lance au Loup, Labrador, No. 4479, adult male. 
Collection E. A. & O. Bangs. Collected May 17, 1899, by Ernest 
Doane. 
“Geographical Range: Labrador. 
“Subspecific Characters: The largest of the Passerculus sandwich¬ 
ensis races. Wings, tail and tarsi longer than in savanna. Bill shorter 
and thicker. Upper parts uniform grayish black, with but little trace 
of rufous. Distinct white median line on crown, and with a great 
deal of bright yellow about the head. The eye line and ring, forehead, 
lores and auriculars being strongly tinged. 
“Remarks: There is no difficulty in separating the two races 
savanna and labradorius on account of the greater size of the latter, 
their wing measurements showing no overlapping.” 
He had at this time two adult birds from Labrador. 
We sent our specimens to Mr. Oberholser, at Washington, who 
kindly examined them and wrote us as follows, under date of February 
4, 1907: “The Savanna Sparrows I have compared carefully with 
a large series in the collections here in Washington, and I cannot find 
any substantial difference worth recognizing by name. It is true they 
average very slightly darker and very slightly larger than more southern 
birds, but the differences are altogether too slight and too inconstant, 
in my opinion, to warrant their subspecific separation. Their dark 
color is due in part to their worn condition, and in both this respect 
and in size I can match them with southern breeding birds. 1 am 
somewhat surprised myself, for I have always entertained a suspicion 
that labradorius was a good race, though I have never before made 
any actual comparison.” 
