Sp. Char. Similar to P. savanna, but smaller. Beneath tinged with reddish. Breast and upper part of belly thickly spotted with sharply defined sagittate brown spots, exhibiting a tendency to aggregation on the middle of the belly. Superciliary stripe and one in the middle of the crown decided greenish-yellow, the head generally tinged with the same, as also the back and sides of the neck. Under tail-coverts somewhat streaked. Length, 5.00; wing, 2.66; tail, 2.24.
Hab. Coast of California, near San Francisco; “Russian America, Kodiak” (Bonaparte).
This is the most strongly marked of the several races of P. savanna, differing from all the others in several important respects. The markings beneath are more generally dispersed, extending back upon the lower part of the breast, and forward over the throat; the lower tail-coverts have distinct medial blackish streaks, though they are somewhat concealed. The median stripe on the crown is decidedly greenish-yellow, not pale ashy; the whitish edges to the interscapular feathers, so conspicuous in the other races, are more concealed, presenting a more uniformly brown surface above, with broader
black stripes. The broad lateral stripes of the crown are deep olive or hair-brown, with narrow, sharply defined, intense black streaks, instead of pale grayish as in alaudinus (spring dress), or light brown as in savanna (spring), with broader, less deep, black streaks.
Habits. The Shore Sparrow of California is said to be, to a remarkable degree, the peculiar marsh species of the Pacific coast of that State. Dr. Cooper states that he very rarely met with these birds out of the salt marshes, where they lie so close and run so stealthily among the weeds that they are flushed with difficulty. They rise only to fly a few rods, and drop again into their covert. They are not at all gregarious, except when migrating, and are found singly or by pairs. They are abundant about San Francisco in the winter, though Dr. Cooper is not sure that any are found so far south in the summer. Near San Diego, in February, they had already begun to utter their short and pleasant song, as they perched on the top of some tall weed. Dr. Cooper observed them in that neighborhood into April, but did not succeed in finding any of their nests, nor was he ever able to meet with this species at San Pedro in summer.
Dr. Coues speaks of (Ibis, 1866, p. 268) finding three species of the difficult group of Passerculi, and all of them very abundant, in Southern California in November. These were P. rostratus, P. alaudinus, and P. anthinus. The anthinus seemed confined to the moist salt grass and sedgy weeds of the sea-shore itself. It was flushed with great difficulty, and then its flight was very rapid and irregular. It would alight again almost immediately, and run with great celerity among the roots of the thick grasses, and was therefore exceedingly difficult to procure. P. alaudinus was common two or three miles away from the coast, but Dr. Coues did not find one mixing with P. anthinus. It was a brush and weed, rather than a grass, species, associating with Anthus ludovicianus and Zonotrichia coronata.
Passerculus princeps, Maynard.
IPSWICH SPARROW.
Centronyx bairdi, Maynard, Naturalist’s Guide, 1870, 117, frontispiece (Ipswich, Mass.). Passerculus princeps, Maynard, American Naturalist, 1872.
Sp. Char. Bill small, exactly the same in form and size as that of Centronyx bairdi; but proportionally smaller; tertials scarcely exceeding the secondaries; tail emarginate, the feathers acute, the intermediæ attenuated terminally. Outstretched feet reaching about half-way to the end of the tail. In color almost exactly like P. rostratus, but different in markings. Above light ashy, the dorsal feathers light sandy-brown centrally, producing an obsoletely spotted appearance; shafts of dorsal feathers black. Outer surface of the wings pale sandy-brown, the feathers darker centrally; tertials with their outer webs whitish, and with a conspicuous black central area. Crown becoming darker brown anteriorly, where it is divided by a rather indistinct line of ochraceous-white; an indistinct superciliary stripe, and a very conspicuous maxillary stripe of the same; the latter bordered above, from the rictus to the end of the auriculars, by a narrow stripe of