Mr. Nuttall pronounces its song as sweeter and more varied in tone than that of the Song Sparrow. He heard their cheerful notes throughout the summer, and every fine day in winter until the month of November, particularly in the morning, their song was still continued. Their nests and eggs were not distinguishable from those of _F. melodia_. The nests were composed of dry grasses, lined with finer materials of the same, and occasionally with deer’s hair. He states that they keep much in low ground and alluvial situations, amidst rank weeds, willows, and brambles, where they are frequently to be seen hopping about and searching after insects, in the manner of the Swamp Sparrow, which they so much resemble in their plumage. They are usually very solicitous for the safety of their young or for their nests and eggs, keeping up an incessant chirp. They raise several broods in a season, and are, like the Song Sparrow, also engaged nearly the whole of the summer in the cares of rearing their young. Mr. Townsend met with this species through several hundred miles of the Platte country in great numbers, as well as on the banks of the Columbia, generally frequenting the low bushes of wormwood (_Artemisia_). It appeared also to be a very pugnacious species. Two of the males were often observed fighting in the air, the beaten party going off crestfallen, and the conqueror repairing to the nearest bush to celebrate his triumph by his lively and triumphant strains. He again met with these birds, though not in abundance, in June, 1825, at the mouth of the Lewis River, on the waters of the Columbia. This Sparrow was also found very numerous at Sitka, by Mr. Bischoff, but no mention is made of its habits. Melospiza melodia, var. rufina, BAIRD. RUSTY SONG SPARROW. _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.)