NOTES ON THE LINCOLN'S SPARROW 
EDWARD HOWE FORBUSH 
I notice that in your 1919 Bulletin the Club reported a 
single Lincoln’s Sparrow. I believe from the date that it was 
one that I saw, but on that date two of us saw at least three, 
and heard one or two more. Probably there were half a 
dozen about that thicket. One of them was so confiding that 
it remained singing within a few feet of us. The others seemed 
a little shyer but at least three of them were singing. It is 
the only occasion on which I have ever seen more than one 
at a time anywhere, except once, September 8, 1888, at Comox, 
Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where there was a loose 
scattered flock feeding in an open field. Their habits, notes 
and general appearance at that time seemed to differ much 
from those of our eastern bird, and a specimen taken then 
was used by Brewster as the type of Melospiza lincolni striata 
Forbush’s Sparrow. For the distinction conferred upon me 
I felt duly grateful and at the time fully believed that I had 
discovered a new bird. Since then grave doubts have assailed 
me, as other of my supposed discoveries have been relegated 
to the scrap heap. This may be as good a geographical race 
as some now recognized, but probably the future will see 
this sub-species and many others eliminated from the list 
of North American birds. In my opinion it would be about 
as well to eliminate all geographical races as to carry the 
craze for discovering and naming them so far as in some 
instances it has gone already. 
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