Grasshopper Sparrow

SCI Name:  Ammodramus savannarum
Protonym:  Fringilla savannarum Syst.Nat. 1 pt2 p.921
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Passerellidae / Ammodramus
Taxonomy Code:  graspa
Type Locality:  Jamaica.
Author:  Gmelin, JF
Publish Year:  1789
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

AMMODRAMUS
(Passerellidae; † Grasshopper Sparrow A. savannarum bimaculatus) Gr. αμμος ammos  sand;
-δρομος -dromos  -racer, -runner  < τρεχω trekhō  to run (cf. Late Gr. δραμω dramō  to run); "SHARP-TAILED FINCH. FRINGILLA CAUDACUTA  ... This new ... and beautiful species is an associate of the former [SEA-SIDE FINCH. FRINGILLA MARITIMA], inhabits the same places, lives on the same food; and resembles it so much in manners" (A. Wilson 1811). "Ammodramus bimaculatus. Above gray, varied with chestnut lines and black spots; beneath ochraceous white, unspotted; breast with a lateral black spot. Table land. Temiscaltipec." (Swainson 1827); "An earlier name for Coturniculus Bonaparte [1838] is found in Ammodramus Swainson [1827, Philosophical Magazine, new series, 1, 435], the real type of which is Ammodramus bimaculatus Swainson —not, as commonly considered, Fringilla caudacuta Wilson (= Oriolus caudacutus Gmelin). This is a case precisely similar to those of Xiphorhynchus and Tiaris, since the first use of Ammodramus is in the original description of Ammodramus bimaculatus, the western continental form of Ammodramus savannarum (Gmelin), antedating by several months the publication of an article [Swainson, 1827, Zoological Journal, 3, 348] wherein Fringilla caudacuta Wilson is given as the type" (Oberholser 1905); "Ammodramus Swainson, 1827, Philos. Mag., new ser., 1, p. 435.  Type, by monotypy, Ammodramus bimaculatus Swainson." (Paynter in Peters, 1970, XIII, p. 68) (see Ammospiza).
Var. Ammodromus, Amodramus.
Synon. Coturniculus, Myiospiza, Myospiza, Palaeostruthus, Passerherbulus, Thryospiza.
• (Passerellidae; syn. Ammospiza † Saltmarsh Sparrow A. caudacuta) "AMMODRAMUS.   ...   Bill moderate, strong, conic, slightly notched; commissure sinuated, the base angulated.  Wings short, rounded; the first and fifth quills equal; the second, third, and fourth equal and longest.  Tail slender, graduated or rounded, the feathers narrow and pointed.  Feet slender, lengthened; nails slender, that of the hind toe rather long.   Type. Fringilla caudacuta. Wilson, 4. Pl. 34. f. 3.   This is a very remarkable group, comprising no less than six species, now before me.  It occurs both in North and South America, and insensibly leads to another genus [Amadina] closely approximating to the European Sparrow, but whose characters I have not yet sufficiently investigated." (Swainson 1827); "Ammodramus Swainson (not of Swainson, June, 1827), Zool. Journ., 3, No. 11, p. 348, Sept.-Dec. 31, 1827—type, by orig. desig., Fringilla caudacuta Wilson = Oriolus caudacutus Gmelin." (Hellmayr, 1938, Cat. Birds Americas, Pt. XI, p. 504).

savannarum
Mod. L. savannarum  of the savannahs  < Spanish zavana  open, treeless plain.
● ex “Savanna Bird” of Ray 1713, and Sloane 1725, “Passer jamaicensis” of Brisson 1760, and “Savanna Finch” of Latham 1783 (Ammodramus).

SUBSPECIES

Grasshopper Sparrow (perpallidus)
SCI Name: Ammodramus savannarum perpallidus
perpallida / perpallidus
L. perpallidus  very pale  < per-  very, all; pallidus  pale  < pallere  to be pale.

Grasshopper Sparrow (ammolegus)
SCI Name: Ammodramus savannarum ammolegus
ammolegus
Gr. αμμος ammos sand; λεγω legō to gather, to pick up.

Grasshopper Sparrow (pratensis)
SCI Name: Ammodramus savannarum pratensis
pratensis
L. pratensis  of the meadow  < pratum, prati  meadow.
● ex "Grus pratensis  ... Great Savanna Crane" of Bartram 1791 (subsp. Antigone canadensis).
● "93. ALAUDA.  ...  pratensis.  2. A. rectricibus extimis duabus extrorsum albis, linea superciliorum alba. Fn. svec. 191.  Alauda pratorum. Aldr. orn. l. 18. c. 15. Will. orn. 150. Raj. av. 69. n. 3. Olin. av. 27.  Alauda sylvestris. Alb. av. 1. p. 40. t. 42.  Habitat in Europæ pratis." (Linnaeus 1758) (Anthus).
● ex “Merle des Savannes” of de Buffon 1800-1802 (syn. Donacobius atricapillus).

Grasshopper Sparrow (floridanus)
SCI Name: Ammodramus savannarum floridanus
floridana / floridanus
Florida, USA.
● ex “Corvus floridanus” of Bartram, 1791 (syn. Aphelocoma coerulescens).
● Florida I., Solomon Is. (subsp. Rhipidura cockerelli, syn. Symposiachrus barbatus, subsp. Zosterops metcalfi).

Grasshopper Sparrow (bimaculatus)
SCI Name: Ammodramus savannarum bimaculatus
bimaculata / bimaculatus
Mod. L. bimaculatus  two-spotted, double-spotted  < L. bi-  double  < bis  twice; maculatus  spotted  < maculare  to make spotted  < macula  spot.

Grasshopper Sparrow (cracens)
SCI Name: Ammodramus savannarum cracens
cracens
L. cracens, cracentis  slender, neat, graceful.

Grasshopper Sparrow (caucae)
SCI Name: Ammodramus savannarum caucae
caucae
Cauca, Colombia.

Grasshopper Sparrow (savannarum)
SCI Name: Ammodramus savannarum savannarum
savannarum
Mod. L. savannarum  of the savannahs  < Spanish zavana  open, treeless plain.
● ex “Savanna Bird” of Ray 1713, and Sloane 1725, “Passer jamaicensis” of Brisson 1760, and “Savanna Finch” of Latham 1783 (Ammodramus).

Grasshopper Sparrow (intricatus)
SCI Name: Ammodramus savannarum intricatus
intricata / intricatus
L. intricatus perplexing, intricate < intricare to entangle.

Grasshopper Sparrow (borinquensis)
SCI Name: Ammodramus savannarum borinquensis
borinquensis
Spanish settlers’ name Borinquen for Puerto Rico.

Grasshopper Sparrow (caribaeus)
SCI Name: Ammodramus savannarum caribaeus
caribaea / caribaearum / caribaeus / caribbaea / caribbaeus / caribbeus / caribboeus / caribeus / cariboea
Caribbean Sea (named after the Carib, an Amerindian people of the Lesser Antilles and northern South America).
● Antilles (= Guadeloupe); ex “Esmerillon Gry-Gry” of Dutertre 1667, and “Esmerillon des Antilles” of Brisson 1760 (subsp. Falco sparverius).
● Caribbean Is.; ex “Pigeon à queue annelée de la Jamaïque” of Brisson 1760 (Patagioenas).