Emberiza rufina, “Brandt, Desc. Av. Rossic. 1836, tab. ii, 5 (Sitka),” Bonaparte. Passerella rufina, Bonap. Consp. 1850, 477. (This may refer to Passerella townsendi, but is more probably the present bird.) Melospiza cinerea, Finsch, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 41 (Sitka). (Not Fringilla c. Gmel.) M. guttata, Finsch, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 41 (Sitka). (Not Fringilla g. Nutt.)
Sp. Char. Resembling M. guttata in the undefined markings, slender bill, etc., but olivaceous-brownish instead of rufous above, the darker markings sepia-brown instead
of castaneous. The white beneath much tinged with ashy; jugulum-spots blended, and of a sepia-brown tint. Wing, 3.00; tail, 3.00; bill .41 from nostril, and .25 deep at base.
Hab. Northwest coast, from British Columbia northward. (Sitka.)
The above characters are those of a large series of specimens from Sitka, and a few points along the coast to the southward and northward, and represent the average features of a race which is intermediate between guttata and insignis, in appearance as well as in habitat. Tracing this variety toward the Columbia River, it gradually passes into the former, and northward into the latter.
We have no distinctive information relative to the habits of this race.
Melospiza melodia, var. insignis, Baird.
KODIAK SONG SPARROW.
? Fringilla cinerea, Gmelin, I, 1788, 922 (based on Cinereous Finch, Lath. II, 274).—Penn. Arc. Zoöl. II, 68 (Unalaschka). Emberiza cinerea, Bonap. Consp. 1850, 478. Melospiza insignis, Baird, Trans. Chicago Acad. I, ii, 1869, p. 319, pl. xxix, fig. 2.—Dall & Bannister, do. p. 285.—Finsch, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 44 (Kodiak).
Sp. Char. Summer plumage (52,477 ♂, Kodiak, May 24, 1868). Above brownish-plumbeous, outer surface of wings somewhat more brown, the greater coverts slightly rufescent. Interscapulars with medial broad but obsolete streaks of sepia-brown; crown and upper tail-coverts with more sharply defined and narrower dusky shaft-streaks. Crown without medial light line. Beneath grayish-white, much obscured by brownish-plumbeous laterally. A whitish supraloral space, but no appreciable superciliary stripe; a whitish maxillary stripe; beneath it an irregular one of dusky sepia; irregular streaks of dark grizzly-sepia on breast and along sides, blended into a broad crescent across the jugulum. Wing, 3.30; tail, 3.50; bill, .48 from nostril, .28 deep at base, and .21 in the middle, the middle of the culmen being much depressed, its extremity rather abruptly decurved.