Yellow-browed Sparrow

SCI Name:  Ammodramus aurifrons
Protonym:  Tanagra aurifrons Av.Sp.Nov.Brasil. 2 p.38 pl.50 fig.2
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Passerellidae / Ammodramus
Taxonomy Code:  yebspa1
Type Locality:  'in provincia Bahia'' ; corrected to Fonte B5a, Rio Solimoes, Brazil, by Hellmayr, 1910, Novit. Zool., 17, p. 281.
Author:  von Spix
Publish Year:  1825
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).

aurifrons
L. aurum, auri  gold; frons, frontis  forehead, brow, front.
● ex “Petit merle de la côte de Malabar” of Sonnerat 1782, and “Yellow-fronted Thrush” of Latham 1783 (Chloropsis).
● ex “Jaquilma Parrakeet” of Latham 1802 (Psilopsiagon).

SUBSPECIES

Yellow-browed Sparrow (apurensis)
SCI Name: Ammodramus aurifrons apurensis
apurensis
Río Apuré, Apuré State, Venezuela.

Yellow-browed Sparrow (cherriei)
SCI Name: Ammodramus aurifrons cherriei
cherrieanus / cherriei
George Kruck Cherrie (1865-1948) US field ornithologist, collector, adventurer (subsp. Ammodramus aurifrons, syn. Cacicus haemorrhous, syn. Cyanerpes careuleus microrhynchus, Cypseloides, Elaenia, syn. Myadestes genibarbis montanus, Myrmotherula, Synallaxis (ex Synallaxis rufogularis Cherrie, 1916), Thripophaga, subsp. Tolmomyias sulphurescens).

Yellow-browed Sparrow (tenebrosus)
SCI Name: Ammodramus aurifrons tenebrosus
tenebrosa / tenebrosus
L. tenebrosus  dark, gloomy  < tenebrae  darkness.
● ex “Petit Coucou noir de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 505 (Chelidoptera).

Yellow-browed Sparrow (aurifrons)
SCI Name: Ammodramus aurifrons aurifrons
aurifrons
L. aurum, auri  gold; frons, frontis  forehead, brow, front.
● ex “Petit merle de la côte de Malabar” of Sonnerat 1782, and “Yellow-fronted Thrush” of Latham 1783 (Chloropsis).
● ex “Jaquilma Parrakeet” of Latham 1802 (Psilopsiagon).