_Passerculus guttatus_, LAWRENCE, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VIII, 1867,
473.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 185.
SP. CHAR. Above plumbeous-gray; the feathers of the back with dusky
centres and paler edges; the top of head also streaked with dusky and
with an almost inappreciable median stripe of lighter. Upper
tail-coverts slightly darker in the centre. No rufous edgings to the
feathers. Head with a pale yellowish-white band from bill over the
eye; and a mandibular one, nearly white, bordered above and below by
the dusky line of other _Passerculus_. Under parts white, thickly
streaked on jugulum, breast, and flanks with dusky, faintly on under
tail-coverts. Bill and legs rather dusky; iris brown. Length, 5.00;
wing, 2.50; tail, 1.95; tarsus, .80; middle toe and claw, .75; bill
above, .51; gape, .56; greatest height, .25.
HAB. Cape St. Lucas (Dec., 1859).
This bird, of which a single specimen only is so far known, is very
closely related to _P. rostratus_, though very easily distinguished
from it. It is considerably smaller than _rostratus_, the bill more
slender, the upper parts much darker, being plumbeous, not
sandy-colored; the stripes beneath darker; the bill and legs more
dusky. These differences may not indicate a distinct species, but as
the specimen here described differs entirely from all the specimens of
a large number of _P. rostratus_, it is yet entitled to consideration
as a marked variety,—probably the resident race at Cape St. Lucas,
where the var. _rostratus_ is merely a winter visitor.
HABITS. The St. Lucas Finch is a new species, in regard to the habits
of which nothing whatever is as yet known. It was obtained at San
José, in Lower California, by Mr. John Xantus, in December, 1859. It
was found in company with a flock of _Passerculus rostratus_, and the
presumption is that its habits may resemble those of that little-known
species.