This is probably a dwarfed race of the common species, the very small size being its chief distinctive character. The colors are most nearly like those of heermanni, but are considerably darker, caused by an expansion of the black and contraction of the rufous markings. The pattern of coloration is precisely the same as in the other races. The present bird appears to be peculiar to the coast region of California, the only specimens in the collection being from the neighborhood of San Francisco.
Habits. Of the history, distribution, and general habits of this species, nothing is known. It was found at Petaluma, Cal., by Emanuel Samuels, and described in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1858. The following description of the nest and eggs of this bird, in the Smithsonian collection, has been kindly furnished me by Mr. Ridgway.
Nests elaborate and symmetrical, cup-shaped, composed of thin grass-stems, but externally chiefly of grass-blades and strips of thin inner bark. Diameter about 3.50 inches; internal diameter 2.00, and internal depth 1.50; external, 2.00. Egg measures .78 by .62; regularly ovate in shape; ground-color, greenish-white; this is thickly sprinkled with purplish and livid ashy-brown, the specks larger, and somewhat coalescent, around the larger circumference. (3553, San Francisco, Cal., J. Hepburn.)
Melospiza melodia, var. guttata, Baird.
OREGON SONG SPARROW.
Fringilla cinerea, (Gm.) Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 22, pl. cccxc.—Ib. Syn. 1839, 119.—Ib. Birds Am. III, 1841, 145, pl. clxxxvii. Passerella cinerea, Bp. List, 1839.—Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 477. Fringilla (Passerella) guttata, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 581. Zonotrichia guttata, Gambel, J. A. N. Sc. I, Dec. 1847, 50. Melospiza rufina, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 480.—Cooper & Suckley, 204.—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1859, 285.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 214.
Sp. Char. Bill slender. Similar in general appearance to M. melodia, but darker and much more rufous, and without any blackish-brown streaks, or grayish edges of the
feathers; generally the colors more blended. General appearance above light rufous-brown, the interscapular region streaked very obsoletely with dark brownish-rufous, the feathers of the crown similar, with still darker obsolete central streaks. A superciliary and very indistinct median crown-stripe ashy. Under parts dull white, the breast and sides of throat and body broadly streaked with dark brownish-rufous; darker in the centre. A light maxillary stripe. Sides of the body and anal region tinged strongly with the colors of the rump. Under coverts brown. Length, 6.75; wing, 2.70; tail, 3.00. Legs rather darker than in melodia. Bill from nostril, .37; from forehead, .60.
Hab. Pacific coast of the United States to British Columbia.
A young bird from Napa Valley, Cal. (12,912, Colonel A. J. Grayson), probably referrible to this race, differs from the corresponding stage of heermanni, fallax, and melodia in the following respects: the ground-color above is much darker, being dull dingy-brown, and the dusky streaks broader; the white beneath has a strong yellowish tinge, and the pectoral streaks are very broad.