BIRDS—FRINGILLIDAE—MELOSPIZA GOULDII. 
479 
Although it is very difficult to express the characters of this sparrow hy an absolute diagnosis, 
yet it will most probably prove permanently and specifically different from the more northern 
and typical guttata. The latter appears to he a northern species, several of the specimens 
having been collected on the Columbia river and northward in January and February, and con¬ 
sequently winter residents, while the locality of the other at Tejon Pass is nearly twelve degrees 
(or more than eight hundred miles) further south, with no intermediate localities recorded. 
After carefully considering the circumstances of the case, I have come to the conclusion that 
the species is worthy of specific separation, and have accordingly named it Melospiza heermanni, 
after its accomplished collector and discoverer. 
Since writing the preceding article, I have had the opportunity of examining a large collection 
of this same species made at Fort Tejon hy Mr. De Vesey, and am still better satisfied of its claim 
to a specific separation. A spring bird has the spots on the breast and sides entirely black, 
without any rufous edging, as is also the case with those on the back. The feet are larger and 
the claws longer than in melodia. The tail feathers are much darker, and the tints above, 
instead of being light rufous, are decidedly grayish olivaceous. The differences from rufina 
consist in the much stouter and thicker bill, and the very distinct dark, usually black, streaks, 
instead of rufous brown. 
The colors of the winter specimens have the usual soft blended appearance peculiar to this 
season, but the spots still retain their well defined blackness, with only a slight tendency to 
passing externally into dark rufous. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. No. 
Sox. 
Locality. 
Whence obtained. 
Orig. No. 
Collected by— 
6127 
c? 
Tejon valley, Cal_ 
Lt, Williamson_ 
10274 
s 
Fort Tejon... 
J. X. de Vesey_ 
38 
10273 
Q 
MELOSPIZA GOULDII, Baird. 
Sp. Ch.—S imilar to M. melodia, still more so to M. heermanni, but very much smaller. Breast and sides conspicuously 
streaked with black ; back and head above distinctly streaked. Length, 4.70 ; wing, 2.10 ; tail, 2.38. 
Hub. —California. 
In a collection of birds presented by Mr. John Gould to the Smithsonian Institution is a 
perfectly adult specimen (No. 8053) marked “ California,” which has a certain resemblance to 
the song sparrow, but differs in being very much smaller, much less, in fact, than any other 
known species of the group. The difference in size is much greater than is usually allowed to 
exist in the same species. The wing measures only 2.10 inches, or less than in Ammodromus 
samuelis. 
The bill is a little more slender than in melodia , the legs much the same size, the wings and 
tail much shorter. The sides of the throat and body with the breast are distinctly streaked with 
black, which has a slightly rufous suffusion externally. The black streaks on the back are also 
well defined as in M. lieermanni. The bill and feet are nearly as large as in this species, but 
the wings and tail are very much shorter. This disproportion of feet, with the difference in 
