Above rufescent-olive, the darker shades castaneous; streaks beneath castaneous-rufous. Wing, 2.60; tail, 2.50; bill, .35 and .23. Hab. Pacific Province from British Columbia, southward … var. guttata.
Above sepia-plumbeous, the darker shades fuliginous-sepia; streaks beneath fuliginous-sepia. Wing, 3.00; tail, 3.00; bill, .41 and .25. Hab. Pacific Province from British Columbia northward … var. rufina.
Above plumbeous, the darker markings dull reddish-sepia in winter, clove-brown in summer; streaks beneath castaneous-rufous in winter, dull sepia in summer. Wing, 3.40; tail, 3.60; bill, .50 and .30. Hab. Pacific coast of Alaska (Kodiak, etc.) … var. insignis.
2. M. lincolni. White of the lower parts interrupted by a broad pectoral band of buff; streaks on the jugulum, etc., narrow linear. A vertex and superciliary stripe of ashy; a maxillary one of buff. Wing, 2.60; tail, 2.40; bill, .30 and .25. Hab. Whole of North America; south, in winter, to Panama.
B. Lower parts without streaks (except in young.)
3. M. palustris. Jugulum and nape tinged with ashy; outer surface of wings bright castaneous, in strong contrast with the olivaceous of the back; dorsal streaks broad, black, without rufous externally; a superciliary and maxillary stripe of ashy. ♂. Crown uniform chestnut, forehead black. ♀. Crown similar, but divided by an indistinct ashy stripe, and more or less streaked with black (autumnal or winter ♂ similar). Juv. Head, back, and jugulum streaked with black on a yellowish-white ground; black prevailing on the crown. Hab. Eastern Province of North America.
Melospiza melodia, Baird.
SONG SPARROW.
Fringilla melodia, Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 125, pl. xvi, f. 4.—Licht. Verz. 1823, No. 249.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 126; V, 507, pl. 25.—Ib. Syn. 1839, 120.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 147, pl. clxxxix.—Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 275. Zonotrichia melodia, Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 478. ? ? Fringilla fasciata, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 922.—Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 562. ? ? Fringilla hyemalis, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 922. Melospiza melodia, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 477.—Samuels, 321.
Sp. Char. General tint of upper parts rufous and distinctly streaked with rufous-brown, dark-brown, and ashy-gray. The crown is rufous, with a superciliary and median stripe of dull gray, the former lighter; nearly white anteriorly, where it sometimes has a faint shade of yellow, principally in autumn; each feather of the crown with a narrow streak of black forming about six narrow lines. Interscapulars black in the centre, then rufous, then pale grayish on the margin, these three colors on each feather very sharply contrasted. Rump grayer than upper tail-coverts, both with obsolete dark streaks. There is