Chapter C: S. Paine, of East Bethel, Vt., found a nest of this species about (24)

SP. CHAR. Tail-feathers rather acute. Above light yellowish-brown; the feathers everywhere streaked abruptly with dark brown, even on the sides of the neck, which are paler. Beneath yellowish (sometimes reddish) white; on the jugulum and sides of neck and body streaked with brown. A faint light superciliary and maxillary stripe; the latter margined above and below with dark brown: the upper stripe continued around the ear-coverts, which are darker than the brown color elsewhere. Wings with the shoulder light chestnut-brown, and with two dull whitish bands along the ends of the coverts; the outer edge of the secondaries also is white. Exposed portion of outer tail-feather, and edge and tip of the second, white. Length, about 6.20; wing, 3.10; tail, 2.50; bill, .33 from frontal feathers to point, by .33 in depth at base; tarsus, .72. Bill yellow, dusky above; legs yellow. (Measurement of No. 10,147 ♀, Washington, D. C.)

HAB. Eastern Province of United States.

Var. confinis.

_Poocætes gramineus_, var. _confinis_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
p. 448 (in text under _P. gramineus_).
_Poocætes gramineus_, COOPER & SUCKLEY, 200.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 186.

SP. CHAR. Resembling _P. gramineus_, but colors paler, the dark streaks narrower. Bill more slender, tarsi longer. (Measurement of 40,803 ♂, Fort Whipple, Arizona: Bill, .36 from point of frontal feathers by .25 in depth through base; tarsus, .78; wing, 3.35; tail, 2.80).

HAB. Western and Middle Provinces of United States, south into Mexico; Oaxaca (SCL. 1859, 379; March).

This species is readily identified by the absence of a median stripe on the head, the chestnut-brown of the shoulder, and the white lateral tail-feathers. The young birds have the ground-color above more whitish, the streaks blacker, in sharper contrast; the streaks on jugulum, etc., less sharply defined;

the general appearance, however, is not different from the adult. Sometimes there is a decided cinnamon wash beneath. Western specimens (var. _confinis_) appear to be paler, with longer wings, and longer and more slender bills, in this respect resembling other Finches (_Melospiza_, _Passerculus_, etc.).

All specimens from west of the Rocky Mountains are to be referred to var. _confinis_.

HABITS. The Bay-winged or Grass Finch is a very abundant species wherever found, and has a very extended distribution. Accepting as one species the slightly variant races above indicated, this bird extends from Florida and Mexico, on the south, to the 57th parallel of latitude, and from the eastern to the western shores. It was found by Richardson frequenting the plains of the Saskatchewan, where it arrives early in May and leaves in September, and where it nests abundantly in the short withered grass of that sterile region. Richardson did not trace it farther north than the 57th parallel, and it was not obtained on the Yukon or Anderson Rivers by Mr. MacFarlane or Mr. Lockhart. It breeds from Northern Virginia north.

In the Middle States it is partially resident, a portion remaining all the winter. South of Washington it is chiefly migratory, only found, in any numbers, from November to March, and probably but few remaining to breed. Audubon states that he never saw any of this species in any portion of Louisiana, Missouri, Kentucky, or Ohio. Mr. Dresser, on the other hand, found them common about San Antonio in August and September, and also in May and June, and had no doubt that some remain to breed.

It is very abundant throughout New England, arriving in some seasons as early as March 11, and remaining until quite late in the fall, often through November. It is found chiefly in dry open fields and pastures, where it nests, with no pains at concealment, on the ground, in depressions made by its own work. It is an unsuspicious and fearless species, neither seeking nor avoiding the companionship of man. It does not usually build near houses, yet is not unfrequently known to do so. It may be often found perched on fences along the roadside, chanting its simple and pleasing lay, and quite as frequently in the road feeding and dusting itself. The latter operation it is very fond of practising, and almost any day in the summer these birds may be found in such situations.

West of the Great Plains is found a marked variety of this species, differing in many respects from the eastern. The western species or race of this Finch, Mr. Ridgway states, is an abundant summer bird in all the elevated grassy portions of the West. It is especially characteristic of the higher grassy slopes of the elevated mountains, particularly in the Rocky Mountain regions, and its sweet and simple song is one of the pleasant associations of those regions. It descends, in the autumn, to the lower districts, having been observed during September in the greatest abundance among the “rye-grass” meadows of Senot Valley, at the northern end of the East Humboldt Range. It nests on the ground in grassy banks, in various situations.

Dr. Suckley found this bird abundant on the Nisqually Plains, about Puget Sound; and Dr. Cooper says it is common, in summer, on the prairies of the interior of Washington Territory. Dr. Cooper also found it wintering in the Colorado Valley, in considerable numbers, but all disappeared in April. He thinks they breed in Northern California, though he has never found them doing so. Dr. Newberry states that they are common in the Sacramento Valley, both in the summer and in the fall. It was found by Mr. Boucard, in winter, near Oaxaca, Mexico.

Their song is a very simple and pleasant succession of soft notes, resembling that of the Canary, but thinner and feebler. It is begun early in the morning and continued a few hours, and then renewed at sunset and kept up often until after dark. It is also not unlike the song of the Song Sparrow, but is neither so varied nor so loud and strong. It continues to sing until late in the season.

They feed in the road, eating insects, seeds, and grain. They are fond of searching also in ploughed fields, and keep principally upon the ground, exclusively so when they are searching for their food.

Although as unsuspicious as the Song Sparrow or the Chipping Sparrow, this Finch rarely, like them, comes about the house for crumbs of bread, but seems to prefer to forage for itself in the fields and by the roadside. Taken from the nest, these birds may be readily tamed, and soon become very interesting and familiar little pets, though Nuttall states that where several are thus kept they become very jealous of each other, and quarrelsome.

Their nest is always placed upon the ground, and is very simply constructed of dry stems of grasses, with no other lining than soft fine materials of the same. They have two, and sometimes three, broods in a season. When their nest is approached, they make use of various artifices to draw away the intruder, and often vary their devices in a very striking manner. In May, 1836, crossing a field within a few rods of my home in Roxbury, I nearly stepped upon a female sitting upon her nest. She immediately tumbled forward towards me, counterfeiting the most extraordinary lameness, so much so that I supposed that I had really stepped upon and severely injured her. I stooped to pick up what I supposed to be a wounded bird, and found her nest and four eggs. Visiting her nest again, as I approached she flew from it quietly and silently, and immediately began the same manœuvres, at some little distance from her nest, which she discontinued as soon as she noticed that I was examining her treasures. These devices she varied several times in a very remarkable manner. In Massachusetts I have known this species to have its complement of eggs by the 15th of April.

The eggs of this species are usually five, often four, and rarely six in number. They are of an oblong-oval shape, the smaller end but slightly more pointed than the other. They vary greatly in size, ranging from .90 to .80 of an inch in length, and averaging about .65 in breadth. Their ground-color is a pale greenish-white, marked with spots, lines, dots, and blotches of various shades of reddish and purplish brown. In some eggs the spots are few and small, chiefly confluent in a ring about the larger end, while the ground-color is very plainly distinguishable. In others the ground is nearly concealed by the abundance of the spots.

GENUS COTURNICULUS, BONAP.

_Coturniculus_, BONAP. Geog. List, 1838. (Type, _Fringilla
passerina_, WILS.)

[Line drawing: _Coturniculus passerinus._
38741 ♂]

GEN. CHAR. Bill very large and stout, (except in _C. lecontei_); the under mandible broader, but lower than the upper, which is decidedly convex at the basal portion of its upper outline. Legs moderate, apparently not reaching to the end of the tail. The tarsus appreciably longer than the middle toe; the lateral toes equal, and with their claws falling decidedly short of the middle claw; the hind toe intermediate between the two. The wings are short and rounded, reaching to the base of the tail; the tertiaries almost as long as the primaries; not much difference in length in the primaries, although the outer three or four are slightly graduated. The tail is short and narrow, shorter than the wing (except in _C. lecontei_), graduated laterally, but slightly emarginate; the feathers all lanceolate and acute, but not stiffened, as in _Ammodromus_.

This genus agrees with _Passerculus_ in the short and narrow tail. The wings are much shorter and more rounded; the feet shorter, especially the middle toe, which is not as long as the tarsus. The tail-feathers are more lanceolate. The bill is much larger, and more swollen at the base.

The essential characters of this genus consist in the swollen convex bill; the short toes, compared with the tarsus; the short and rounded wings; and the very small, narrow, slightly graduated tail, with its lanceolate acute feathers (except in the South American _C. manimbe_).

In some respects there is a resemblance to _Ammodromus_, in which, however, the bill is very much more slender; the wings still shorter, and more rounded; the tail-feathers much stiffer, and even more lanceolate; the toes extending beyond the tip of the tail; the middle toe rather longer than the tarsus, instead of considerably shorter.

_C. lecontei_ has the same general form, but a much smaller bill.

Synopsis of Species.

COMMON CHARACTERS. Crown and back streaked with black upon an ashy, olive, or chestnut ground; beneath whitish, tinged across the breast with ochraceous or ashy, plain, or with blackish streaks on the breast. A light superciliary stripe.

A. Tail-feathers attenuated, acute at ends, much graduated.
On the crown a median light stripe.

_a._ A dusky streak on each side of the throat, and one above
the light ochraceous maxillary stripe.

1. C. henslowi. Bill very robust, .35 along culmen by .30
deep at base. Wing, 2.25; tail, 2.20. Head ochraceous or
greenish olive, lighter on the throat; a blackish stripe on
each side of the crown. Breast streaked with black at all
ages. _Hab._ Eastern Province of United States.

_b._ No dusky streak on side of throat nor above the maxillæ.

2. C. lecontei. Bill very narrow, only .16 broad by .20
deep at base. Median stripe of the crown ochraceous for
anterior third, the remaining part ashy-white; superciliary
stripe wholly ochraceous; edge of wing white; breast
sparsely streaked in the adult. Wing, 2.15; tail, 2.20.
_Hab._ Plains west of the Missouri, from Texas to Dakota.

3. C. passerinus. Bill robust, .23, or more, broad, by
.24, or more, deep at base. Median stripe of the crown
ochraceous throughout; superciliary stripe yellow
anteriorly, ashy posteriorly; edge of wing bright yellow,
breast unstreaked in the adult, streaked in the young, in
which the head stripes are ashy, with no yellow on wing or
over lore.

Colors dark, the black markings predominating above.
_Ad._ Anterior lower parts deep buff at all seasons.
_Juv._ Dusky streaks on breast very distinct. Bill, .33
and .30; wing, 2.60; tail, 1.90. _Hab._ Eastern Province
of United States, and West Indies … var. _passerinus_.

Colors pale, the light markings predominating above.
_Ad._ Buff of the breast scarcely observable in summer.
_Juv._ Dusky streaks on breast scarcely appreciable.
Bill, .33 and .24; wing, 2.60; tail, 1.90. _Hab._ Western
Province of United States … var. _perpallidus_.

B. Tail-feathers broad, rounded at ends; only slightly
rounded. Crown not divided by a median stripe.

4. C. manimbe. Head clear ashy, whitish on throat; crown
uniformly streaked with black. Supra-loral streak and edge
of wing bright yellow. No streaks on breast in adult.

Breast tinged with ashy; black streaks on upper parts
much narrower than the intervening ones of the ashy
ground-color; dorsal feathers rufescent-umber medially,
edged with ashy, and with a shaft-streak of black. Wing,
2.35; tail. 2.00. _Hab._ Brazil … var. _manimbe_.

Breast tinged with ochraceous; black streaks on upper
parts much broader than the ashy ones of the
ground-color; dorsal feathers black, edged with ashy;
wing, 2.25; tail, 1.90. _Hab._ Buenos Ayres and Uruguay …
var. _dorsalis_.

Coturniculus henslowi, BONAP.

HENSLOW’S BUNTING.

_Emberiza henslowi_, AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 360, pl. lxxvii.—IB.
Syn. 1839, 104.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 75, pl. clxiii.—NUTTALL,
Man. I, 1832, App. _Coturniculus henslowi_, BON. List, 1838.—IB.
Conspectus, 1850, 481.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 451.—MAYNARD,
Birds E. Mass. 1870, 117.—SAMUELS, 306. _Fringilla henslowi_,
NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 571.

SP. CHAR. Upper parts yellowish-brown, the hood, neck, and upper parts of back tinged with greenish-yellow. Interscapular feathers dark brown, suffused externally with bright brownish-red; each feather with grayish borders. Tertiaries, rump, and tail-feathers abruptly dark chestnut-brown, darkest centrally, paler externally, and narrowly margined with gray. Crown with a broad black spotted stripe on each side; these spots continued down to the back. Two narrow black mandibular stripes and one post-ocular on each side of the head, and an obscure black crescent or spot behind the auriculars. Under parts light brownish-yellow, paler on the throat and abdomen. The jugulum, upper part of the breast, and the sides of the body, conspicuously streaked with black. Edge of wing yellow. A strong tinge of pale chestnut on the wings and tail. The median tail-feathers and upper coverts chestnut or rufous brown, with sharply defined shaft-streaks of black. Length, 5.25; wing, 2.15; tail, 2.15.

HAB. Eastern United States as far north as Massachusetts; westward to the Loup Fork of Platte.

This species is related to _C. passerinus_, but readily distinguished by the well-marked stripes on breast and sides, the greenish-yellow, not chestnut-brown, of head and nape, and the two mandibular dusky stripes. The middle tail-feathers are reddish with only a very narrow sharply defined median shaft-streak of black, instead of having the greater portion of the centre dusky with scalloped edges. I have not seen young birds, but they probably differ little from the adults.

HABITS. The history and general distribution of Henslow’s Bunting is still somewhat imperfectly known. Mr. Audubon first met with it, in 1820, in Kentucky, nearly opposite to Cincinnati. It was seen on the ground, amongst the tall grass, and is said to have exhibited all the peculiarities of this tribe. He was afterwards informed that this bird is abundant in the State of New Jersey, and that it breeds there; and in evidence of this he mentions receiving a specimen from Dr. Trudeau, obtained by that gentleman himself. Mr. Audubon also mentions that both Dr. Bachman and he have procured a great number in South Carolina, where they abound, in the latter part of autumn, and where, also, a portion remain during the winter. In Florida, Mr. Audubon again met with these birds in the winter. They were in great numbers in all the pine barrens of that State, in light and sandy soil, and in woods but thinly overgrown by tall pines. They never alight on trees, but spend their time on the ground, running with great rapidity through the grass, in the manner of a mouse.

In New Jersey they were found in ploughed fields, where they are presumed to have been overlooked and mistaken for the Yellow-winged Sparrow. Mr. Audubon supposed that they were not found farther eastward than that State.

Specimens in the Smithsonian collection have been procured in Georgia in December; in Maryland in July; at Fort Riley, Kansas, Southern Illinois, and in Nebraska, in June.

In Massachusetts they are regular summer visitants, though as yet they have been met with in only a few instances and in a somewhat restricted locality. They are now met with nearly every year, and several nests have been taken. Mr. Maynard obtained two specimens, May 10, in a wet meadow in Newton. Their song-note he describes as like the syllables _see-wick_, the first syllable prolonged, the latter given quickly. This bird was first obtained in Berlin, in that State, by Mr. E. S. Wheeler, who discovered its nest and eggs. It was mistaken for Bachman’s Finch, and was at first so placed on the record, though the error was immediately corrected. Since then, in that town, and in one or two others in its neighborhood, other nests have been met with. Mr. William Brewster obtained several specimens in Lexington, May 14, 1872. It is quite probable that it has been confounded with _C. passerinus_, and it is now supposed to be more common in the eastern part of the State than that bird.

One specimen of this Bunting was taken near Washington, during the summer season, from which circumstance Dr. Coues gives it as an exceedingly rare summer resident of the District of Columbia.

In 1871, Mr. Ridgway ascertained that, so far from being rare, Henslow’s Bunting is very abundant on the prairies of Southern Illinois, as well as the Yellow-winged species, but far exceeding the latter in numbers. Though entirely similar to that bird in habits and manners, it may be readily distinguished by its note, which is said to be an abrupt _pil-lut_, much more like the common summer-call of the Shore Lark than the lisped grasshopper-like chirp of the _C. passerinus_, and to be uttered as the bird perches on the summit of a tall weed, the tail being depressed, and the head thrown back at each utterance. A number of unidentified eggs were sent to me several years since, by Mr. Kennicott, from near Chicago. They resembled somewhat the eggs of _C. passerinus_, but were not the eggs of that species. I have now no doubt they belonged to this bird.

The nest is built in the ground, in a depression, or apparently an excavation scratched out by the bird itself, and is a well-made structure of coarse, dry, and soft reeds and grasses, well lined with finer materials of the same description. The eggs, five or six in number, somewhat resemble those of the _C. passerinus_. Their ground-color is a clear bright white, and they are spotted with well-defined reddish-brown markings, and more subdued tints of purple. The markings, so far as I have seen their eggs, are finer and fewer than those of _C. passerinus_, and are distributed more exclusively around the larger end. The eggs measure .78 by .60 of an inch, and are of a more oblong-oval than those of the common Yellow-Wing.

Coturniculus lecontei, BONAP.

LECONTE’S BUNTING.

_Emberiza lecontei_, AUD. Birds Am. VII, 1843, 338, pl.
cccclxxxviii.—MAX. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 340. _Coturniculus
lecontei_, BON. Conspectus, 1850, 481.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
452.

SP. CHAR. Bill much more slender than in _C. henslowi_. First quill the longest, the rest diminishing rapidly. Tail emarginate and rounded, with the feathers acute. Upper parts light yellowish-red, streaked with brownish-black; the margins of the feathers and scapulars pale yellowish-white. Tail-feathers dusky, margined with light-yellowish. Lower parts, with the cheeks and a broad band over the eyes, fine buff. Medial line yellowish anteriorly, nearly white behind. The buff extending to the femorals and along the sides, streaked with brownish-black. Throat, neck, and upper parts of the breast, without any streaks, and plain buff. Length, 4.40; wing, 2.13; bill along ridge, .37; edge, .50. Legs flesh-color; bill dark blue.

HAB. Mouth of Yellowstone, to Texas.

Since the regret expressed in the Birds of North America (1858) at the loss of the single specimen known of this species, another has been received by the Smithsonian Institution from Washington Co., Texas, collected by Dr. Lincecum. It is in very poor condition, having been skinned for an alcoholic preparation, and does not admit of a satisfactory description of the colors. In its unspotted breast, the rufous feathers of the hind neck, the absence of maxillary stripes, and apparently in the markings of the wings, it is most like _C. passerinus_. Although the inner tail-feathers have the narrow stripe of _henslowi_, the bill is much smaller, as stated by Audubon, than in the others, and is apparently bluish, not yellow. The vertical stripe is deep buff anteriorly, and pale ashy posteriorly, instead of buff throughout, and the superciliary stripe is continuously buff, instead of yellow anterior to, and ashy behind, the eye. In the comparative length of wing and tail, it is most nearly related to _henslowi_, but the bill is very much narrower than in either. Upon the whole, there can be no doubt of its actual specific distinctness from both its allies.

HABITS. Leconte’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow was procured by Audubon in his expedition to the Yellowstone. He speaks of its having very curious notes, which he describes as of a sharp, querulous nature, and a general habit of keeping only among the long, slender green grasses that here and there grew up in patches along the margins of the creeks. So closely did it keep in the coverts to which it resorted, that it was very difficult to force it to rise on the wing, when only it could be procured. Mr. Audubon did not meet with its nest or young, and they remain unknown.

This type specimen was presented by Audubon to Professor Baird. A second was sent to the Smithsonian Institution, from Texas, by Dr. Lincecum.

Coturniculus passerinus, BONAP.

YELLOW-WINGED BUNTING.

_Fringilla passerina_, WILSON, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 76, pl. xxvi, f.
5.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 180; V, 497, pl. cxxx. _Fringilla
(Spiza) passerina_, BON. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 111. _Coturniculus
passerina_, BON. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 481.—BAIRD,
Birds N. Am. 1858, 450.—SAMUELS, 305. _Emberiza passerina_, AUD.
Syn. 1839.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 73, pl. clxii. _Fringilla
savanarum_, (GM.) NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 494.—IB. (2d ed.) 1840,
570.—(GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 921?) _?? Fringilla caudacuta_,
LATH. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 459.—NUTT. Man. I, 1832, 505. _?
Passerina pratensis_, VIEILLOT. _Coturniculus tixicrus_, GOSSE.
LOCALITIES: Oaxaca, March (SCL. 1859, 379). Guatemala (SCL. Ibis, I,
18). Cuba (winter, common, CAB. Journ. IV, 7). Costa Rica (CAB.
Journ. VIII, 1860, 411; LAWR. IX, 103). Vera Cruz (winter, SUM.
Mem. Bost. Soc. I, 552).

SP. CHAR. Feathers of the upper parts brownish-rufous or chestnut-brown, margined narrowly and abruptly with ash-color; reddest on the lower part of the back and rump; the feathers all abruptly black in the central portion; this color visible on the interscapular region, where the rufous is more restricted. Crown blackish, with a central and superciliary stripe of yellowish tinged with brown, brightest in front of the eye. Bend of the wing bright yellow; lesser coverts tinged with greenish-yellow. Quills and tail-feathers edged with whitish; tertiaries much variegated. Lower parts brownish-yellow or buff, nearly white on the middle of the belly, darkest on the jugulum. The feathers of the upper breast and sides of the body with obsoletely darker centres, these sometimes wanting. Sides of breast against bend of wing with a few black streaks, usually concealed. Length about 5 inches; wing, 2.40; tail, 2.00.

HAB. Eastern United States; south to Guatemala; Jamaica, resident; Porto Rico.

The young of this species have the jugulum and sides of the breast streaked with black, much more distinct than in the adult, and exhibiting a slight resemblance to _C. henslowi_. The upper parts are less varied.

Specimens from the Far West have the bill more slender, the reddish of the back considerably paler, the dark markings of the back restricted, the light stripe on the head with scarcely any yellow, a decided spot in front of the eye quite yellow, and little or no ochraceous on the breast.

The young bird, with streaked jugulum, may be most readily distinguished from _C. henslowi_ by the grayer plumage without any shade of chestnut or greenish-yellow, the sparseness of streaks on the side, the absence of the two mandibular dusky stripes, and the broad dusky centres of the middle tail-feathers.

Quite a fine series of specimens from Jamaica and other West India Islands affords ample material to judge of the validity of the _C. tixicrus_ of Gosse. It is scarcely possible to distinguish these Jamaican specimens from examples from the Eastern Province of the United States, though minute differences are observable. Their size is somewhat smaller, but they are resident in the region where obtained; and the shades of color are just appreciably darker. There are, however, no differences sufficient to justify retaining the name _tixicrus_, to designate even a variety.

All the specimens in the collection from Mexico and Guatemala are in the autumnal or winter dress, so that it is probable that they are not resident there; they appear to be identical with North American specimens, and referrible to the variety _passerinus_ as restricted.

Between summer and winter specimens great differences are observable; in the former season the edges of the feathers become worn, so that often the chestnut spots disappear entirely, while the other markings become poorly defined, leaving the black blotches predominant.

HABITS. The common Yellow-winged Sparrow appears to be a bird of irregular and unequal distribution, found in certain localities in great abundance, and not seen in the intervening districts. According to some writers, it is partial to sandy places near the sea, and this is certainly true of the neighborhood of New York City, and also of a large portion of the New Jersey coast. It is likewise the case in certain portions of Eastern Massachusetts, as, according to Mr. Maynard, this species is very numerous in Nantucket, where it breeds abundantly. I have never met with this Sparrow in Massachusetts, except in a single instance, near Boston, nor in any collections of eggs have I seen any that I supposed could be those of this species; yet in the western part of the State, according to Mr. Allen, it is an abundant summer visitant, arriving there about the first week in May, and leaving early in September, breeding in dry fields and pastures, and raising two broods in a season. According to Mr. Boardman, it is an occasional visitant in the neighborhood of Calais, yet rare; arriving there the first of April, five weeks earlier than it shows itself in Springfield. Yet that this bird has ever been met with between Boston and Calais does not appear. It was not seen in Western Maine by Professor Verrill.

In the vicinity of Hartford, Conn., this bird appears also to be a not uncommon summer resident. In 1860, I received from Mr. T. S. Brandigee several nests found in that neighborhood. They were all constructed on the ground, in a field of thin grass, and their tops were all nearly covered over.

Dr. Heermann states that he found this bird a not uncommon species, in the summer season, near San Antonio; and Mr. Dresser also procured a specimen there in the early summer. Dr. Lincecum mentions it as a common resident in Washington County, in the same State. He describes it as a close-hiding Grass Sparrow, running on the ground in the manner of a mouse, and never seen to alight on trees. Dr. Coues speaks of it as a resident species in South Carolina, especially abundant during the period of migration.

It has been found quite common, during the winter months, in Central America, specimens having been procured there by Señor Constancia, Mr. Skinner, and Dr. Van Patten. It was also found at Oaxaca, Mexico, by Mr. Boucard.

Mr. Nuttall and Mr. Audubon speak of it as occurring in Oregon, but Dr. Cooper did not meet with it on the Pacific coast. Dr. Kennerly obtained a single specimen on one of the forks of the Colorado, in February. Mr. Ridgway met with the western form of this species, in suitable places, in the Sacramento Valley and the Great Basin, and proposes for it the name of _perpallidus_.

In the vicinity of Newark, N. J., I have found this species apparently one of the most abundant in that neighborhood, having obtained there in the month of June more eggs of this than of any other species.

In Northfield, Ill., near the lake shore, Mr. Robert Kennicott met with the nests of these birds in great abundance. From these facts I infer that it is not necessarily or exclusively a bird of the sea-shore, but that in certain favorable localities it is as abundant in the interior as on the coast, and that at intervals it may be met with from Texas to Maine, and from the Atlantic to the interior, nearly or quite to the Pacific coast.

In Jamaica, Mr. March states, this species is not uncommon in the savannas and grass lands near Spanish Town. It is a resident in that island, and breeds there in considerable numbers, nesting in tufts of grass-roots. It is only common in certain localities.

I have never heard its note to know it. Wilson speaks of it as a short, weak, interrupted chirp. According to Mr. Ridgway, it bears a close resemblance to the note of a grasshopper. Nuttall says they sing in an agreeable voice, something like that of the Purple Finch, though less vigorously; and Audubon characterizes it as an unmusical ditty, composed of a few notes weakly enunciated at intervals.

It is terrestrial in its habits, living, nesting, and feeding on or near the ground. It subsists on larvæ, insects, and the seeds of grasses and small weeds.

This bird builds its nest on the ground, usually in a small tuft of grass or in a cluster of plants. It is made of dry grasses, and is lined with fine bent and horsehair. The young are said to follow their parents for a short time, but soon separate, and learn to take care of themselves. This species is not gregarious, and is never seen in flocks, not even when just about to migrate.

Wilson and Nuttall describe the eggs as grayish-white, sprinkled with brown. Audubon says they are dingy-white, sprinkled with brown spots. This is not accurate. The ground-color is a clear crystalline white, beautifully dashed and marbled with bold markings of an almost golden brown. These spots vary in size, are often quite large, and occasionally make a corona about the larger end. The eggs are of a rounded oval, almost spherical, shape, measuring .75 by .63 of an inch.

Coturniculus passerinus, var. perpallidus, RIDGWAY.

WESTERN YELLOW-WINGED BUNTING.

_Coturniculus passerinus_, var. _perpallidus_, RIDGWAY, Report of
U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par.
_Coturniculus passerinus_, COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 189.

SP. CHAR. Adult (No. 58,605 ♂, Antelope I., Great Salt Lake, June 4, 1869; U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th parallel) similar to var. _passerinus_, but the light tints above prevailing, the ground a pale ash-color, and the chestnut spots in excess of the black ones. Specks on the nape very minute. Buff tinge to cheeks, throat, and jugulum so faint as to be scarcely appreciable. Wing, 2.60; tail, 1.90; bill, .33 from frontal feathers by .24 in depth at base; tarsus, .70. _Young_ (No. 53,942 Ruby Valley, Nev., July 22, 1868) differing from young of var. _passerinus_ in a predominance of the light, instead of the dark, markings on upper surface, streaks across breast so faint as to be just appreciable, instead of distinct, and nearly black.

HAB. Western Province of United States, from eastern base of Rocky Mountains to the Pacific.

This very appreciably different race replaces the restricted var. _passerinus_, in the Western Province of the United States. In its paler colors and much more slender bill than its eastern representative, it agrees with _Passerculus alaudinus_, _Poocætes confinis_, etc., as compared with _P. savanna_, _P. gramineus_, etc. It is to this race that the biographical notes in the preceding article refer, as far as based on western specimens.

Genus AMMODROMUS, SWAINSON.

_Ammodromus_, SWAINSON, Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827. (Type, _Oriolus
caudacutus_, GM.)

GEN. CHAR. Bill very long, slender, and attenuated, considerably curved towards the tip above. The gonys straight. A decided lobe in middle of cutting edge of upper bill. The legs and toes are very long, and reach considerably beyond the tip of the short tail. The tarsus is about equal to the elongated middle toe; the lateral toes equal, their claws falling considerably short of the base of the middle one; the hind claw equal to the lateral one. Wings short, reaching only to the base of the tail; much rounded; the secondaries and tertials equal, and not much shorter than the primaries. The tail is rather shorter than the wings, and graduated laterally; each feather stiffened, lanceolate, and acute.

[Line drawing: _Ammodromus caudacutus._
609 ♂]

_Color._ Streaked above and across the breast; very faintly on the sides.

The essential characters consist in the slender and elongated bill; the long legs reaching considerably beyond the tail, with the lateral claws falling considerably short of the middle one; and the very short rounded wings, rather longer than the cuneate tail, with its stiffened and lanceolate feathers.

COMMON CHARACTERS. Above olivaceous or ashy, the crown washed with brown laterally, the dorsal feathers darker centrally; beneath white, tinged across the jugulum with ochraceous or ashy; jugulum streaked; a dusky “bridle” on each side of throat; above it a maxillary stripe of ochraceous or white.

1. A. caudacutus. _Ad._ Above olive, the dorsal feathers
darker and edged with whitish-ochraceous; superciliary and
maxillary stripes deep ochraceous; jugulum and sides tinged
with the same, and sharply streaked with black. _Juv._ Wholly
ochraceous, darker above; crown and back streaked with black,
the former divided medially by a pale-brown stripe; breast and
sides streaked with black. _Hab._ Atlantic coast of United
States.

2. A. maritimus. _Ad._ Above ashy, the dorsal feathers
obsoletely darker centrally; superciliary stripe
yellowish-ashy, bright yellow over the lores; maxillary stripe
white; jugulum and sides tinged with ashy, the former
obsoletely streaked with dark ashy. _Juv._ Above olivaceous,
the crown and back streaked with black, the former not divided
by a lighter median line; breast and sides washed with
ochraceous and distinctly streaked with black. _Hab._ Atlantic
coast of United States.

Ammodromus caudacutus, SWAINSON.

SHARP-TAILED BUNTING.

_Oriolus caudacutus_, GMELIN, I, 1788, 394.—LATHAM, Ind. Orn. I,
1790, 186 (not _Fringilla caudacuta_, LATH.). _Fringilla
caudacuta_, WILSON, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 70, pl. xxxiv, f. 3.—AUD.
Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 281; V, 499, pl. cxlix. _Fringilla (Spiza)
caudacuta_, BON. Syn. 1828, 110. _Passerina caudacuta_, VIEILLOT.
_Ammodramus caudacutus_, SWAINSON, Birds, II, 1837, 289.—AUD.
Synopsis, 1839, 111.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 108, pl.
clxxiv.—BONAP. Conspectus, 1850, 482.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
453.—SAMUELS, 307. _Fringilla littoralis_, NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832,
504 (2d ed. 1840, 590). _Sharp-tailed Oriole_, PENNANT, Arctic
Zoöl. II, 261, New York.

SP. CHAR. Upper parts brownish-olivaceous. Head brownish, streaked with black on the sides, and a broad central stripe of ashy. Back blotched with darker; edges of interscapular feathers and inner secondaries whitish, just exterior to a blackish suffusion. A broad superciliary and maxillary stripe, meeting behind the ashy ear-coverts, and a band across the upper breast, buff-yellow. The sides of the throat with a brown stripe; the upper part of the breast and the sides of the body streaked with black; rest of under parts whitish. Edge of wing yellowish-white. Bill yellowish below; dusky above. The female appears to have more buff on the breast than the male. Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.30.

HAB. Atlantic coast of the United States.

The young is of a more yellowish tinge above and below; the streaks on the back more conspicuous; the scapular feathers without the whitish edging.

In autumnal and winter specimens the buff tints are much deeper than in spring; the sides of the crown, as well as the dark markings on the back, more intensified, and in greater contrast with the lighter ashy and olive tints.

HABITS. The Sharp-tailed Finch is one of the most striking and well-characterized of land-birds, and as peculiar to the sea-shore as the _Tringæ_. In habits it very closely resembles the whole family of Waders in many striking respects. Like them it feeds upon small crustaceans and minute marine insects, keeping about the water’s edge, walking upon the floating weeds and other substances raised by the tide, preferring this mode of life to a more inland residence, and only resorting to the uplands to feed upon the seeds of grasses and sedges when their food fails them at the water’s edge.

Dr. Coues is of the opinion that this bird does not breed in the neighborhood of Beaufort, N. C., and that it leaves for the North in May, having a more northern habitat than _A. maritima_. He does not coincide with those who detect a resemblance between the actions of the _Ammodrami_ and of the Sandpipers. He thinks the manner in which they climb the reeds, slide up and down, and hang from them in various attitudes, is more like that of Nuthatches and Titmice. On the ground they seem to him unmistakably sparrow-like.

This Sharp-tailed Finch is abundant along the coasts of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and is also found in Massachusetts, though sparingly, and only in a few congenial localities. In the marshes of Charles River, near Boston, this species is occasionally common in the breeding-season. In the summer of 1869, Mr. H. W. Henshaw found quite a number of their nests. Mr. Maynard has also taken it among the marshes of Ipswich, which is probably about its extreme northern limit. It has not, so far as I am aware, been traced to Maine. In these localities it probably raises two broods in a season, as it appears there in May, and remains until into October. They are eminently terrestrial, run on the ground like mice, are difficult to flush, and can only be shot while on the wing. They lie close to the ground, and conceal themselves in the grass.

They are also very numerous in the marshes in the neighborhood of New York, and especially so in New Jersey, breeding along that coast to Cape May. How much farther south than this they are found I cannot state, but I did not meet with any at Cape Charles, where the _maritimus_ was very abundant.

In the winter this species is found in large flocks along the shores of South Carolina and Georgia. Mr. Audubon, however, did not find any in Florida. In the marshes near Charleston they are found in immense flocks, so much so that Audubon has known of forty being killed at a single shot. They search in the sedgy marshes for their food when the tide is out, and, on the approach of the returning waters, retreat to the higher shores and to the rice embankments.

The flight of this species is quite different from that of any other bird, and by it they may at once be recognized. In flying, they also drop their tails very low.

Mr. Audubon states that during the winter the Sharp-tailed Finch is furnished with an extra quantity of feathers on the rump, for which he finds it difficult to account.

These birds are essentially maritime, are found only in the vicinity of the sea, and always keep immediately about the water, except when the inclemency of the weather drives them to the high grass of the uplands for shelter. They walk and run, or remain feeding on the floating weeds and other substances raised by the tide, with all the ease and fearlessness with which they move on the land. They are gregarious in the winter, and in the Southern marshes are found feeding in companies. During the breeding-season they keep more in pairs, and are found more isolated. At this time they are also shy, and difficult to detect. Their usual call-note is only a single _tweet_, and in the love-season their series of twitters Mr. Audubon thinks hardly worthy to be called a song. They feed indiscriminately on seeds, insects, small crustaceans, and various forms of refuse matter floated or thrown up by the tides.

On the coast of New Jersey, where these birds are found in the greatest abundance, they have at least two broods in a season. Their nest is on the ground, in a small tussock of grass or sedges, but little removed from the reach of the tide, and is placed in a depression apparently excavated for the purpose. They are loosely made of soft and slender grasses, arranged in a circular form. The nest is large for the bird, spacious and deep, and is softly lined with finer and similar materials.

Their eggs, five or six in number, are of a somewhat rounded oval shape, having an average breadth of .59 of an inch, and vary in length from .78 to .70. Their ground-color is a light green, occasionally a dull white, with hardly a perceptible tinge of greenish, thickly sprinkled equally over the entire egg, with fine rusty-brown dots. These are of various sizes, but all fine. In a few the larger dots are confluent in a ring around the larger end; in others, the finer dots are so small as to be only distinguishable under a glass, concealing the ground-color, and giving to the egg an almost uniform rusty color. These eggs vary but little in shape, and are nearly equally rounded at either end, though never entirely so.

Ammodromus maritimus, SWAINSON.

SEASIDE BUNTING.

_Fringilla maritima_, WILSON, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 68, pl. xxxiv, f.
2.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, pl. xciii. _Ammodromus maritimus_, SW.
Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 328.—BONAP. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850,
482.—AUD. Synopsis, 1839, 110.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 103, pl.
clxxii.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 454.—SAMUELS, 308. _Fringilla
(Ammodromus) maritima_, NUTT. Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 592.
_Fringilla macgillivrayi_, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 285; IV,
1838, 394; V, 1839, 499, pl. ccclv. _Ammodromus macgillivrayi_,
BON. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 482.—AUD. Syn. 1839.—IB.
Birds Am. III, 1841, 106, pl. clxxiii. _Fringilla (Ammodromus)
macgillivrayi_, NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 593.

SP. CHAR. Above olivaceous ashy-brown; nearly uniform, but with the centres of interscapular feathers darker and edged faintly with paler; very obsoletely, almost inappreciably streaked elsewhere, especially on the head, which has a faintly defined median stripe of purer ashy. Beneath white; the breast and sides and under tail-coverts with rather indistinct streaks of dark ashy-brown, tending to form a large spot in centre of breast; an ashy mandibular stripe continued into the ashy sides of neck, and cutting off and enclosing a white stripe above it. A spot of yellow anterior to eye, continued over it as an almost inappreciable grayish stripe. Edge of wing sulphur-yellow. Bill lead-color; feet dusky. Length about 6 inches; wing, 2.50. In autumn the breast and sides tinged with fulvous; the back with rufous.

Young birds (_A. macgillivrayi?_) have markings much more distinct, and closely resemble _A. caudacuta_, though larger. They will be most readily distinguished by the absence of the fulvous superciliary stripe.

HAB. Atlantic sea-coast of United States, northward to Long Island Sound.

The same seasonal differences in coloration are observable in this species as in _A. caudacutus_.

HABITS. The Seaside Finch has very nearly the same distribution, habits, and manners of life, as the Sharp-tailed species, and the description of these in one would answer almost equally well for the other. There are, however, certain shades of difference in several respects to be observed.

This bird is, if anything, more southern in its distribution than the other, and does not extend its visits in summer so far north. While the Sharp-tailed Finch is not an uncommon bird on the shores of the New England States, as far to the north as Ipswich, the Seaside Finch is comparatively rare, much more so now than it was formerly. Mr. Maynard states that he has searched carefully for it from the Merrimack to the extreme southern shores of Massachusetts without finding any specimens, nor could he find any on the island of Nantucket, a very natural and congenial locality. Dr. Coues states that it is abundant on the New Hampshire coast, but recent endeavors have failed to detect it. In 1836 and 1837 a few isolated pairs built in the marshes of Stony Brook, near Boston, above tide-water, nesting not on the ground, but in low bushes. They were identified by Mr. Audubon.

In the summer of 1852 I found this species very abundant on the low sandy islands of Cape Charles, Va. There, in every instance, their nests were in low bushes, about a foot from the ground. They were the only land-birds found on these islands.

Rev. C. M. Jones informs me that at Madison, Conn., on the coast, the Seaside and the Sharp-tailed Finches occur in about equal numbers in the salt marshes. He was not able to observe any specific difference in their mode of nesting, except that the _maritimus_ seemed to be more common in that part of the marsh nearest the shore, while the _caudacutus_ was more abundant farther back towards the highlands, though this was not the invariable rule. He sometimes found the nests suspended in the salt grass, the latter being interwoven with the other materials. In all such cases the entrance was on the side of the nest, in the manner of the Marsh Wren. At other times he found the nest placed under a quantity of lodged grass, but resting on a portion still lower. In such cases it is generally open at the top. He has also found them on the ground, and, when thus placed, always much more bulky than when built as above, a considerable quantity of dead grass being laid down to keep the nest above the wet, though not always with success. On Cobb’s Island, Va., Mr. Jones only found the _maritimus_, the nests of which were in bushes, from one foot to eighteen inches from the ground.

The call-note of this species is said to be a monotonous chirp, and its song hardly to deserve that name. The notes of which it is composed are few, and have neither variety, emphasis, nor attractiveness.

Dr. Coues states that this Finch begins to sing when mating, and is afterwards, during the incubating, particularly earnest and persevering about it. Each pair usually claims some particular copse, and the male usually has his favorite singing-post, to which it continually resorts. He adds that its simple song is something like that of the Yellow-shouldered Sparrow, beginning with a few slow notes, then a rapid trill, finally slurred, till it sounds like the noise made by some of the grasshoppers.

These birds are at all times shy and difficult to be approached. When their nest is visited, the parents leave it and secrete themselves, and cannot be traced without great difficulty. When thus hidden, they will almost suffer themselves to be trodden upon before they will fly up.

Mr. Audubon thinks they have two broods, their first being hatched out early in June. Their nests, he states, are usually placed next to the ground, but not sunk in it. Their food consists of marine insects, small crabs, and snails, as well as small sand-beetles and seeds. Their flesh has a rank, unsavory flavor, so much so that, having had some made into a pie, he could not eat it. He states also that they are resident in the Southern States, and are found along the Gulf coast as far as Texas.

The nest is strongly but coarsely woven of dry sedges, stems, and grasses, and is lined with similar but finer materials. The eggs are five in number, have a grayish-white ground, and are spotted and blotched with reddish-brown. The blotches are distributed over the entire egg, and are much larger than in the _caudacutus_. There is, indeed, no similarity between the two eggs. They measure .88 by .68 of an inch.

GENUS CHONDESTES, SWAINSON.

_Chondestes_, SWAINSON, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 435.—IB. Fauna Bor.-Am.
II, 1831. (Type, _Chondestes strigatus_, SW., equal to _Fringilla
grammaca_, SAY.)

[Line drawing: _Chondestes grammaca._
5557 ♂]

GEN. CHAR. Bill swollen; both outlines gently curved; the lower mandible as high as the upper; the commissure angulated at the base, and then slightly sinuated. Lower mandible rather narrower at the base than the length of the gonys; broader than the upper. Tarsi moderate, about equal to the middle toe; lateral toes equal and very short, reaching but little beyond the middle of the penultimate joint of the middle toe, and falling considerably short of the base of middle claw. Wings, long, pointed, reaching nearly to the middle of the tail; the tertials not longer than the secondaries; the first quill shorter than the second and third, which are equal. The tail is moderately long, considerably graduated, the feathers rather narrow, and elliptically rounded at the end.

Streaked on the back. Head with well-defined large stripes. Beneath white, with a pectoral spot. Only one species recognized.

Chondestes grammaca, BONAP.

LARK SPARROW.

_Fringilla grammaca_, SAY, in Long’s Exped. R. Mts. I, 1823, 139.—
BON. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 47, pl. v, f. 3.—AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839,
17, pl. cccxc. _Chondestes grammaca_, BON. List, 1838.—IB.
Conspectus, 1850, 479.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 456.—COOPER &
SUCKLEY, 200.—MAYNARD, Birds E. Mass. 1870, 112
(Massachusetts).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 193. _Emberiza grammaca_,
AUD. Synopsis, 1839, 101.—IB. Birds Am. III, 1841, 63, pl.
clviii.—MAX. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 343. _Chondestes strigatus_,
SWAINSON, Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 435.

SP. CHAR. Hood chestnut, tinged with black towards the forehead, and with a median stripe and superciliary stripe of dirty whitish. Rest of upper parts pale grayish-olive, the interscapular region alone streaked with dark brown. Beneath white, a round spot on the upper part of the breast, a broad maxillary stripe cutting off a white stripe above, and a short line from the bill to the eye, continued faintly behind it, black. A white crescent under the eye, bordered below by black and behind by chestnut, on the ear-coverts. Tail-feathers dark brown, the outermost edged externally and with more than terminal third white, with transverse outline; the white decreasing to the next to innermost, tipped broadly with white. Length, 6 inches; wing, 3.30.

HAB. From Wisconsin and Illinois (also in Michigan and Ohio) to the Pacific coast; Cape St. Lucas, south to Texas and Mexico. Oaxaca (SCL. 1859, 379); Vera Cruz (winter, SUMICHRAST, 552); Eastern Massachusetts, accidental (MAYNARD).

The colors of the female are duller than in the male, the chestnut less bright, the black not so intense; the pattern, however, is the same.

The young bird has the breast and throat with a good many spots of dark brown instead of the single large one on the breast. The other markings are more obscure.

HABITS. The Lark Finch is found from Eastern Illinois to the Pacific, and from Oregon to Texas. Within this wide area of distribution it is everywhere abundant in the open prairies and plains. It is not found in wooded regions. This bird was described by Say, and was first met with by Long’s expedition to the Missouri River. It was not known to either Wilson or Audubon, and its habits were very imperfectly known to Nuttall.

Mr. Dresser found this bird very abundant in Texas throughout the summer, arriving in the neighborhood of San Antonio in March, and leaving there early in October. He found their nests quite common, and usually built in a mesquite tree or bush, of fine roots and grasses. Dr. Heermann also found it abundant in New Mexico. In Arizona, Dr. Coues found it, chiefly in spring and autumn, a migrant, and, at those seasons, very numerous. Many remain during the summer to breed, and a few are found in the winter. It was met with near New Leon, Mexico, by Lieutenant Couch, but was not obtained in Vera Cruz by Sumichrast. It was taken near Oaxaca, Mexico, by Mr. Boucard. A single specimen was obtained at Fort Dalles in Oregon, by Dr. Suckley, but it was not met with by him west of the Cascade Mountains. Mr. Townsend states that he also found it in that region.

Dr. Cooper did not find this species in the Colorado Valley, though it has been obtained at Fort Yuma in December; and, as he has met with them in large flocks in the valleys of San Diego in February, he concludes that they winter in the southern part of California. They breed from San Diego throughout California, and as far north as the Columbia, where they arrive early in May. Dr. Cooper has never found their nest in California, but has frequently met with it in Kansas and Nebraska in May and June. He found them on the ground, and their nests were constructed chiefly of grass.

He speaks of them as singing very sweetly, and states that in their song they resemble the Canary more than any other bird. They frequent the open plains, usually in the neighborhood of trees, upon which they often alight in flocks. Their food consists of the seeds of grass and other small plants, which they collect on the ground.

A single specimen of this bird was shot in Massachusetts in 1845, by Mr. Samuel Jillson. It was taken in Gloucester, on the coast, where its appearance was, of course, purely accidental.